


Step back in time - Part One

by black_blade



Series: Step back in time [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Master of Death Harry Potter, Pre-Slash, Sarcasm, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Swearing, Time Travel, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-08 12:33:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 40,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15930521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/black_blade/pseuds/black_blade
Summary: When a bitter, dark, and battle worn Harry Potter steps through a rip in time. He didn't think he would find himself with a baby in his arms on his Aunt's front doorstep on the night his parents were killed but that was just the beginning.





	1. Chapter one

Author’s ramblings: Just a warning that this is a long story. I have broken it down into about five parts so far and it sits at about 900 pages at the moment. This story does contain many fun things like sex scenes between two men (Harry Potter and Severus Snape), violence, sarcasm, and swearing. You have been warned. All graphic sex scenes are on my other account at archive of our own (Link can be found on my profile page).

This story covers all seven years of the Harry Potter books and beyond and does start a little slow but builds up. Everything that happened in the books, unless stated otherwise, has happened in Harry’s time. This story only covers information in the seven Harry Potter books.

Disclaimer: Cos I’m old school and don’t own Harry Potter.

Last note: Beta reader? Anyone interested?

 

Step back in time.

Part One.

 

On a quiet street in Surrey known as Privet Drive something unusual was about to happen. It all started with a tabby cat sitting on a wall outside a normal looking house that looked just like all the other normal looking houses in the street. In fact many people would say that this street was very normal, thank you very much, and would scoff at anyone telling them any different. That was before tonight and what was about to unfold on this very quiet and normal street.

Suddenly a cool wind stirred the leaves and an old man appeared on the road with a bundle in his arms. The tabby cat stretched her back before jumping from the wall and disappearing from sight. The old man smiled as a woman appeared next to him and the two had a slight, if heated discussion, before moving a couple of houses down the street. Where the old man moved towards the front door of number four and placed the bundle in his arms on the doorstep and stepped away as he took the younger woman’s arm in his and they moved off down the street before disappearing into the night.

Quiet descended once again on the very ordinary street and the hours slowly ticked away as light touched the horizon. Just as suddenly as the two people before him appeared a man appeared limping along with a cane in one hand as he moved towards number four and the bundle on the doorstep. He stopped and carefully picked up the bundle, his green eyes looking down at the small child in his arms. He looked down at the child in his arms for a while before reaching up with his cane and knocked loudly on the front door.

A horse-faced woman answered the door with a sour look on her face as she looked down her nose at the man on her doorstep. Her eyes briefly flickered to the bundle in his arms and the cane in the man’s hand before her lips tightened.

“Yes?” The woman asked primly.

“Hello, my name is Blake Sun.” The man said, smiling politely. “Are you Petunia Dursley?”

“Yes.” The woman snapped. "What do you want?"

“I’m sorry to say, that I come with bad news.” Blake stated looking down at the baby in his arm. “Your sister and brother-in-law were killed last night.”

Petunia nose crinkled up in distaste.

“Is that so?” The woman questioned, with cold eyes.

“I’m afraid it is, Mrs Dursley” Blake said softly. “I’m sorry for your loss but we have matters to discuss. May we come inside?”

“We?”

Blake moved the blanket around to show the sleeping baby in his arms to the woman.

“Your nephew, Harry Potter, and myself.” Blake said softly.

Petunia stepped back, her nose wrinkling even more.

“I want nothing to do with the child!” Petunia snapped as her eyes darted around the street.

Blake looked taken aback and said, “But this child-"

“No, I don’t want that child in this house!”

Blake sighed and took a couple of sheets of paper from his pocket and held them out to the woman. She just looked down her nose at them.

“I was hoping that we could come to an agreement but it looks like these papers will be needed.” Blake said quietly.

“What are they?” Petunia snapped.

“These papers sign over rights of Harry Potter to me to take over his care.”

Petunia snatched the papers from his hand and closed the door in Blake’s face sharply. The man stood back and looked down at the small child, still sleeping in his arms unaware that his life was going to change so much from the events of this night.  Blake sighed and gently removed the letter from the boy’s blanket and placed it into his pocket.

Suddenly the door reopened harshly and the papers were shoved towards him.

“Here, now leave before my husband wakes up.” Petunia hissed and shut the door in his face.

Blake sighed and turned away as the sun crept higher and a few curtains twitched as he stood on the Dursley's doorstep.

“Well, little Harry." Blake said softly. "This is the start of your new life.”

Blake stepped forward and disappeared before his foot could hit the ground and the quiet street of Privet drive went back to being just a very normal street, thank you very much.

xXx

Harry could still see the image of the Dark Mark floating above the burnt out remains of Godric Hollow as he closed his eyes. Frozen in place as Hagrid had dashed into the house and picked up the baby and rode away on Sirius's flying motorcycle. He was sure he would have broken down again if it weren’t for the goblin that had appeared on the street close to him and beckoned him over.

He'd moved over to the creature still in shock, with the glow of the Dark Mark bathing the street in green light as people started to creep out of the houses around him. Harry had taken the adoption papers from the goblin's hand as the creature had explained since he was a Potter, he could take over guardianship of Harry Potter.

Harry just taken the papers and had stood on the street for a while as the Dark Mark had floated away on the wind and the Aurors had moved in. Locking down the scene and moving the witches and wizards back, they had looked at him with interest but Harry had just moved back with the rest when ordered. He'd watched with slight detachment as the bodies of Lily and James Potter were removed from the house and taken away.

He was sure that it was stupidity that pushed him to apparate to the Dursley’s house. How he thought he could take care of a child when he was having enough trouble just pulling his own mind together he wasn’t sure.

Harry just sighed as he shook the memories away and knew that there was no way that he could have walked away from the baby. From the moment he'd picked up the child he'd known he wouldn’t be leaving without him. He would just have to deal with the situation he was in now and try to push the events that lead to him stepping through the time rip and the darkness in his mind later.

xXx

Harry held his head in his hands as he looked down at the notebook on the table and reread his own writing. He sighed and leaned back in his chair before getting to his feet and paced a few steps before picking up the beer on his table and swallowing down another gulp. He replaced it on the table as he looked out the window and into the darkness.

He cursed as he turned away and pulled another memory from his mind and placed it into the bowl. He could tell that it was fragmented and he knew it would be useless to him. He was having no luck. Every time he would try to think back, it was just too far. Every memory he pulled was too fragmented or faded to be of any use to him. Too many years had passed since he was a child. Too much blood and chaos.

He looked down at the beer but could only see the blood on his hands and with a yell he threw the bottle at the wall. It smashed into a thousand pieces as crying started up next door and his green eyes flicked to the dor. He ran his hands through his short hair and sighed. He wasn’t sure how he was going to do this again, how could he face it? Those green eyes looking up at him again.

He looked down at his hands as they shook, no blood to be seen, just another memory as he moved into the other room. Harry Potter looked up at him with big green eyes, crying. He picked the child up gently and rocked him as he murmured softly until he settled and he just held the child. Feeling the warmth of the body against him as he looked around the room blankly.

Just the fact that he held the child went against everything he had read about time travel. He should not be able to even touch him without making ripples. He rocked the boy slowly, thinking of his own children and grandchildren and a calmness started to come over him. This was something he had done so many times before as the boy settled down.

He had fled with the boy as soon as Petunia Dursley had signed him over to him. He just couldn’t stay in England. There were just too many memories there at the moment. Too much darkness and pain. All things he just couldn't deal with in his state of mind.

He moved back into his office, limping more heavily with the added weight of the child and looked down at the will of Lily and James Potter and knew there would be a time when he would have to return. He wouldn’t be able to run forever, if he wanted to honour their wishes.

His eyes caught on the word Hogwarts in the will and he sighed as he laid the sleeping child on the table in the blanket and picked up the will. He had to honour the wishes of the boy’s parents. They wanted him to go to Hogwarts for his whole education, even if it meant that the child would have to face the possible dangers there.

Harry felt the grief and frustration growing in him again as he read through the will and he sighed as he placed it back on the table and looked down at the boy. His eyes catching on the lightning bolt scar and he bowed his head. He still couldn’t wrap him mind around the fact that the time rip had sent him to the one time in his life that everything had changed, the night his parents had been killed. It could have taken him anywhere but fate had played her hand and he now had no choice but to deal with it.

The boy made a soft sound and he glanced up to see green eyes looking at him, so much like his own, so much like his son’s had been and he felt the grief try to overtake him again. He reached out and little Harry grabbed his hand and he smiled.

The goblins had already been at his door and the German Ministry had sent him requests. They all had work for him to do as he looked at the boy’s little fingers curled around his own.  He would do what he always did; he would survive. He would fall back into work, to bring up his son and hope that he could recall more memories of what his life had been, when he'd been Harry Potter.

xXx

“Dad!”

Harry started from the book he'd been reading at his son’s yell. He dashed out of the room and down the hallway, his cane forgotten in his rush to get to his son. He crashed into his son’s room scanning everything with his eyes looking for any danger.

His son sat on the bed crying and hugging his small body. Harry’s heartbeat slowly returned to normal as he limped towards his son and sat down on the bed. The little boy fell into his arms crying into his shirt as Harry cupped his head and rocked him, his right leg stretched out before him.

“It’s okay Ry.” Harry cooed into the boy’s ear. “You are safe here. It was only a nightmare.”

The little boy hiccupped before turning his head up to his father.

“It was the green light.” The boy whispered, with big green eyes.

Harry’s heart clenched as he ran his hand through the boy's hair.

“It’s okay Ry.” Harry whispered as the child cried.

Harry continued to stoke the boy’s hair until the five year old fell back into sleep. Harry tucked the boy back into bed and looked down at him softly.  Five was just too young for a boy to be remembering the night that his parents were murdered and he wished not for the first time that his son didn’t have such a good memory.

He knew it wasn’t possible but he believed that his younger self had an even better memory than he did himself and he was starting to think that young Ry was becoming more of his own person and developing away from the path that Harry himself had taken. He wasn’t sure if that had to do with the fact that the boy was away from the childhood that he'd had or if it was the fact that Harry lived in this time, when there had been no Blake Sun in Harry’s life when he was a child.

With a sigh he pulled himself to his feet, his right leg protesting slightly as he limped back to his living room and the book he had been reading.

xXx

“Come on, dad!” The young child of eleven yelled, bouncing on his toes. “We are going to be late!”

Harry sighed as he pulled his shoes on, if only he had a tenth of his son’s energy.

“What will we be late for?” He asked the young boy.

Ry rolled his eyes and said, “To get all my school things!”

“We have a week before you start school, Ry.” He reminded the dark haired child.

“I know, but I want to read all the books before I start!”

Harry sighed feeling the beginning of a headache forming already.  He was starting to think that his son was going to be sorted into Ravenclaw with the way he threw himself at his studies and yet he seemed to throw himself into trouble just as easily.

“Do you have your letter with the list of everything you need?” Harry asked.

“Yep,” Ry held up the letter proudly.

The letter had arrived a couple of weeks ago via an owl and his son hadn’t stopped bouncing around since.

“Very well,” Harry replied.

He pulled himself to his feet with the help of the cane at his side. Together the two moved towards the door with the boy chatting away excitingly. Harry held out his hand for his son to take as they walked the short way to the bus stop and waited for the bus to London. Harry loved living a muggle life and hadn’t given that up when he'd taken on the child.

Ry kept chatting away as they made their way to the Leaky Cauldron and Harry just nodded along. The little boy was so excited but Harry was sure that that would be dampened once people started to notice the lightning bolt scar on the child’s forehead.

“Now Ry,” Harry started as they stopped out the front of the Leaky Cauldron.  “I want you to keep close to me and not run off.”

“Yes, Dad.” The young boy replied with big green eyes.

Harry looked down at him sternly.

“I want you in my sight at all times, young man." Harry said sternly.

“I understand, Dad.” Ry said softly.

Harry smiled and made him way into the magical pub keeping the boy close to his side and glaring down anyone that even looked towards them. He moved towards the back room but not before Ry was noticed.

“It’s Harry Potter!”

Ry looked around at his name but Harry kept walking.

“Wait!”

Harry turned to see a slender man close behind him, looking down at his son with wide eyes.

“Yes?” Harry asked, looking down his nose at the man as he leaned on his cane.

“Is this Harry Potter?” The man asked squinting at his son. Ry hid slightly behind his father’s leg.

“Yes,” Harry said shortly, gaining the attention of the pub.

“Oh, my.” The man just stood there as a few other people made their way over.

“And we must be going,” Harry replied.

“But-“

Harry kept walking, ignoring everyone else that tried to get his attention.  Making his way to the entrance to Diagon Alley where Harry tapped his wand on the stones to open the way.  Harry smiled as his son gasped beside him as the street was revealed before them.  Harry had never taken Ry to the Alley before preferring to take him to the smaller magical shopping areas, but that wouldn’t cut it when it came to getting his son’s school supplies.

“Dad?” Ry asked softly, bitting his lip.

“Yes, son?” Harry asked looking down at the boy.

“Why was that man asking about me?”

“Remember what I told you about people calling you the boy-who-lived?” Harry replied with a sigh.

“Yes.”

“Well there are some people that believe that you saved the wizarding world, the night that your parents were killed.”

Ry seemed to think this over for a little while.

“But I was one!” Ry said softly.

Harry sighed this was hard to explain to an eleven year old child. Mainly because he still didn’t understand it well himself.

“Yes, you were.” Harry agreed. “How about we have a look at the book shop first?”

The boy grinned at him as they headed to the first shop of many.  It was going to be a long day.

xXx

“Did you want to get some ice cream before we leave?” Harry asked his son.

“I want to go home.” Ry said with a shake of his head.

The young boy was looking around at all the people that kept looking over in their direction. Harry looked down at Ry and thought maybe he should have taken his son to a few more magical areas while he was growing up so he could get use to people staring at him but he just couldn’t bring himself to do that. It was better when they were in Germany since Harry Potter wasn't as well-known there.

“Okay, Ry.” Harry replied, picking up a couple of lightened bags as Ry picked up Hedwig’s empty cage. "Let’s head home."

“My, my, if it isn’t the famous Harry Potter?”

Harry looked up to see Lucius Malfoy standing a few paces away from him with his son at his heels. Harry stood up straighter tightening his grip on his cane as Ry looked up at the blonde man with wide eyes.

“Yes,” Harry said slowly, looking the other man dead in the eyes. “This is my son, Harry Potter and I am Blake Sun.  And you would be?”

“Lucius Malfoy,” The man sneered looking down his nose at Harry.

“Is there something that I can help you with Mr Malfoy?” 

“Just wanted to welcome Mr Potter to the wizarding world.” Malfoy said with a sneer.

“That's nice of you, Mr Malfoy.” Harry replied, his tone implying something completely different. “However, we must be on our way, it's been a long day.”

“Ah, yes.” Lucius replied. “It can be tiring keeping up with children at your age.”

Harry smiled with a cold look in his eyes.

“Yes, people of our age do tend to tire quickly.” Harry said with a smirk.

Harry turned away from the fuming man and made his way to the exit as Ry glanced over his shoulder at the blonde-haired man and his son.

xXx

“Dad!”

Harry sighed he had only gotten through one page of his book since his son’s last call.

“What?” Harry called back.

“I can’t find my potion’s book!”

“Keep looking, it’s there.”

Harry turned back to his book.

_‘…Time is believed to be free flowing always moving forward and moving backwards in time can cause ripples. Any slight change can alter the future that was known to the person using time devices…’_

“Dad! I can’t find my red shirt!”

“It’s in the wash.”

_‘…Depending on the ripples they can cause rips and tears.  It is believed that people or objects can fall through these gaps. Studies into these time rips have been conducted without confirmation about the changes to established timelines. Theories have been put forward of alternate dimensions being created due to using time devices but they are unconfirmed and…’_

“Dad!”

“What?”

“Hedwig isn’t back yet!  Will she know to go to Hogwarts?”

“Yes, she will. Don’t worry.”

“Okay.”

_‘…Studies have looked into these gaps without much luck. It is however known that two of the same person can't coexist for long in the same time. This is why time turners are monitored very closely and with very strict rules applied to all people with permission to use one. If two of the same person were to come into contact, the results could collapse a timeline…”_

“Dad!”

Harry sighed and placed his book on the table. He knew that he wasn’t going to get any work done until his son left for school tomorrow morning. With a soft groan he made his way to his feet as he picked up his cane and limped towards his son's room.

“Never mind, I found it!”

“Oh god,” Harry moaned.

xXx

Harry placed the last of his son’s bags onto the trolley and allowed Ry to push it into the station as he made his way behind the very excited child. Up ahead he could see a red headed family making their way towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

“Just follow that red headed family, Ry.” Harry said to his son.

Ry looked over at the large family.

“Okay dad,” Ry replied softly. 

Even thou Ry was short he was the right height for his age and could just see over the bags on the trolley. Harry was sure that he had been a lot shorter than his son was now and it looked like the differences between himself and his younger self were starting to become more apparent as time went on. 

They both had the dark hair and green eyes but the slight lines around Harry eyes and face showed him as being in his late forties, even if he was a lot older than that. He'd stopped aging in his late forties but it wasn't until a lot later that he'd noticed that something was wrong and the true meaning of the Master of Death had become clear to him.

He kept his hair short, similar to a military cut and wore dark jeans and light blue shirt, allowing the scars on his arms to show plainly. He also didn't wear glasses and his eyes seemed to look paler then his son’s eyes did without them. Ry made sure he wasn’t going too fast for his father as he tapped along with his cane in his right hand as they made their way through the busy station.  Keeping the red headed family in their sights.

Suddenly one of the twins up ahead turned around and spotted them and turned to his mother who looked over her shoulder and stopped to let the two catch up.

Molly Weasley smiled at the two as they drew even.

“Hello dear, are you starting this year?” Molly asked Ry.

Ry looked up at his father unsure and Harry smiled at Molly.

“Yes, it’s his first year,” Harry confirmed.

“Well, just follow us.” Molly said warmly. “I’m Molly, this is Ron. He is starting this year and this is George, Fred and Percy. And this little one is Ginny, she starts next year.”

Harry smile widened and said, “I’m Blake Sun and this is my son, Harry Potter.”

Molly didn’t even blink at Ry’s name, even if her sons started whispering between themselves as Ginny peeked around her mother with large eyes.

“Nice to meet you,” Molly said kindly as she shook Harry's hand.

Molly moved back to walk with Harry as Ry moved forward to talk to the rest of her family as they made their way towards the platform.

“They grow up so quickly!” Molly gushed, as the kids started to move through the barrier. Seeing who could run at it the fastest without losing control of their trolley.

“That they do." Harry said. "Doesn’t stop them from regressing now and again.”

“I don’t think my twins will ever grow up!" Molly replied with a laugh. "I've lost count of how many times Headmaster Dumbledore has sent me a letter about those two.”

Harry smiled in understanding.

“Knowing Ry," Harry said dryly. "I am expecting that I will be receiving just as many letters. I got enough from his boarding school."

“Ry?” Molly questioned.

“Oh, sorry.” Harry said with a grin. “My son likes to be called Ry. He just told me, one day out of the blue, when he was about four that he wanted to be called Ry since Harry was too much of a mouthful. Just wait until he is learning spells, now they are a mouthful.”

Molly laughed as they moved through the barrier after their children and onto the magical platform.

“Well, I better make sure my lot are all on board.” Molly said with a smile. “Nice to meet you, Blake.”

“Nice to meet you too Molly, looks like Ron is showing Ry what he needs to do.” Harry pointed out as the red heads surrounded Ry as their bags were loaded onto the train.

Harry stood back watching the train and all the children, parents, and animals running around as the train waited. Suddenly Ry separated himself from the red heads and dashed across the platform and hugged Harry tightly.

“Bye, Dad.” Ry said, looking up at his father. “I’ll write as much as I can!”

“Make sure you do,” Harry replied ruffling the boy’s hair. “Now off you go. Looks like Ron is waiting for you.”

Ry grinned up at him before dashing off with one last good bye over his shoulder. Harry watched as the train pulled away and waved at the grinning face of his son in the window. With a sad sigh he moved off the platform with the other parents. He looked after the train sadly and hoped that Albus would look out for Ry, like he had for him as he turned away.

xXx

_‘Hi Dad,_

_I got sorted into Gryffindor! And so did Ron! It’s up in a tall tower and it’s great. I’ve made a few friends but the other kids keep staring at me. I don’t like it. I hope it gets better. I’m learning some really cool stuff but Snape is mean. He is one of my teachers and he always calls on me and takes points. It’s not fair!_

_Love, Ry.’_

xXx

Harry was sitting in his living room having a coffee when an owl flew down onto the windowsill and tapped on the glass. Harry waved his hand and the window opened letting in the brown owl in. Harry took the note from the owl with a frown. The Hogwarts seal revealing whom the message was from.

_‘Dear Mr Sun,_

_I wish to invite you to Hogwarts School to discuss your son Harry Potter. If you could write back a time that would be suitable for you with the owl and I will endeavour to make that time available to you._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.’_

He reached for a pen on the side table and wrote back a day, and a time and also his home address before giving the note back to the owl. Albus would need to contact him via his mail box due to the fact that owls had trouble finding him for some reason he hadn't worked out. Some owls found him without a problem but others just seemed to get lost, which was frustrating for him and the person sending the owl.

“Please return this to Albus Dumbledore,” Harry said to the owl and watched as it flew off.

The next day a portkey arrived in his mail box for Harry to attend his meeting with the Headmaster. Harry didn’t have a floo connection to his house due to the fact that he didn't trust them so a portkey or apparation were his two options. He stood and moved to his room and removed a few items, if he was meeting the Headmaster he didn’t want to have anything that would raise the man’s suspicions, anymore then they probably already were.

Once everything except his wands were removed, he moved back towards his front door, picking up his keys and wallet before moving out of the house and using the portkey once he was passed his wards. He landed with a slight stumble in a bare stone room with Albus Dumbledore standing in his brightly coloured glory with a smile on his aged face waiting for him. Harry just took in the image of the man for a second.

“Welcome to Hogwarts, Mr Sun.” Albus greeted, holding out a hand, which Harry took in his own.

“Thank you for the invitation,” Harry replied, as he looked the man over. “Is my son in trouble?”

“No, no.” Albus replied quickly, as they moved out of the room and into the Headmaster’s office. “Just a bit of paperwork to sort out.”

Harry moved to the chair offered to him as Albus settled behind his desk.

“Would you like tea?” Albus offered, with a twinkle in his blue eyes and Harry felt his heart clench at the sight.

“Yes, thank you Headmaster.” Harry replied softly.

“Please call me Albus,” The Headmaster replied floating a cup over to Harry.

Harry smiled. “Just Blake is fine.”

“Now, you are Harry Potter’s guardian?”

“Yes, that's correct.”

Albus coughed slightly.

“We had a Mr and Mrs Dursley on our file?” Albus said softly. "But your address down as Harry's place of residence?"

“They are his Aunt and Uncle.” Harry explained.  “His Aunt signed over his guardianship to me when Ry was about one. I can call up the papers if you wish?”

“If you could, we can change what we have on file for young Mr Potter,” Albus smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. "I apologise for the mix up."

Harry pulled out his cherry wood wand and with a slight wave a few papers appeared in Harry’s hand and he placed them on the Headmaster’s desk as he sat back in his chair and sipped at his tea. Albus took the papers and read through them his eyebrow rising at the signature at the bottom of the first page.

“These papers only have Mrs Dursley’s signature on them?” Albus asked.

“Yes, that's correct. Only Ry’s blood relative was needed. I also have the Ministry’s guardian papers there as well.” Harry replied.

“Ah yes. I’ll just make a copy of these to go into his folder.”

“I will also give you my home number, if anything comes up that you need to contact me. I’m out of the country a lot so I’ll give you my mobile number as well. I try to put a redirection on my home phone when I'm away from home for a while but it doesn't always work.” Harry wrote the numbers down on a piece of paper and passed them to the Headmaster. “How's Ry going with school so far?”

Albus smiled as he took the paper and added it to Ry’s file on his desk.

“He's a very smart boy, we may have to look at including him in some advance classes as the years progress." Albus said with a smile. "He has also been allowed to play on the Quidditch team. The youngest seeker in a hundred years.”

Harry grinned. “He has always been a very smart and talented boy.”

“If you allow him to stay an extra week in the holidays, he could take some extra classes?” Albus offered.

“I’ll have to talk to Ry about that,” Harry said carefully, with a frown.

Albus stood suddenly.

“Thank you for coming to see me Blake it was very nice to meet you. The first Quidditch game is in four weeks if you would like to see your son play?” Albus offered with a smile.

Harry stood slowly with the aid of his cane and shook the Headmaster’s hand once more.

“I would like that very much, thank you.” Harry replied. "Ry had asked me to come to the game."

“Should I send you an owl or a parcel with the portkey?”

“Parcel would be better.” Harry replied.

“I’ll see you in four weeks then,” Albus said with a smile and led him back to the stone room. "You can apparate out from here, but not in."

“Good bye, Albus.”

xXx

Albus Dumbledore watched the limping figure of Blake Sun as he made his way towards the Quidditch pitch with the other parents and some of his colleagues. Severus Snape leaned towards Albus when he noticed where the older man was looking.

“What do you make of him?” Severus asked.

“He seems polite enough,” Albus replied with a sigh. “It’s strange, but I can’t feel much of his magic. Even when he used it, it was so faint.”

Severus frowned.

“Maybe he isn’t very powerful?” Severus said with a sneer.

“I don’t think that’s the case,” Albus said softly, a thoughtful look in his eyes. “He feels a little different but he does love young Harry Potter. You can see the Potter line in him, so there is a blood connection there, even if he doesn't hold the Potter name.”

Severus gave him a nod and turned towards the pitch as Blake made his way towards the box they were sitting in. The man took a seat to the left side of the stand, a few rows ahead of the Headmaster and Severus. He placed his cane under the seats and turned his attention to the pitch as the children made their way out. Everyone’s attention turned to the game as it started and the stands erupted with noise.

Severus’s eyes kept drifting down at the dark-haired man, slightly puzzled by him. He was an unknown factor and yet being Harry Potter’s father it made him a main player and yet no one really knew the man. He kept to himself and didn’t venture into the magical world much, that he knew of. He had heard rumours that the man did work in Germany and France but couldn’t find out what type of work he did.

A gasp beside him had him looking back to the game to see Potter’s broom bucking. Severus cursed and started muttering a counter curse under his breath with his eyes trained on the broom as Potter clung to it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Blake rise to his feet and Severus’s stomach dropped as he realised that the boy’s father might see his son fall from the broom. He pushed a bit more of his magic into the counter curse but it was for nothing, for with one big buck the broom threw the boy and he was falling.

The crowd gasped and Severus felt Albus draw his wand and cry out a spell but it wasn’t going to be enough to stop him. Suddenly the boy slowed even more, which puzzled both Severus and the Headmaster. The boy slowed completely as he softly touched down on the ground. Severus then noticed Blake, he was standing in his seat, his hand outstretched and focused. Severus wished he could see the man’s face but he was sitting at the wrong angle.

As Potter touched down on the ground, he bent over and threw something up. A cheer rang out from the stands as the boy held up the snitch in his hand, a grin lighting up his face. Blake sat back down heavily and Severus could see his hand trembling from his seat and he felt very much the same. The rest of the Gryffindor team landed close to Potter and embraced him as Severus sat back in his seat as noise erupted around them.

“That was close,” Albus muttered, taking his own seat with a heavy sigh.

“Did you see, Sun?” Severus snapped looking down at the man, who was sitting more calmly now with his eyes fixed on the pitch.

“No,” Albus replied. “I was too busy with the spell, but I felt someone else helping Harry.”

“That was Sun,” Severus said softly.

Albus looked back down at the dark-haired man as the other teachers and parents made their way down to the pitch. Blake made no move to follow them and his eyes seem to be locked on the small figure of his son. The man reached under his seat to pick up his cane and moved to his feet, he limped toward Albus and Severus with a frown on his brow and his pale green eyes intense.

“I believe,” Blake said with unreadable eyes and his tone of voice cold. “That some charms need to be placed on this pitch to stop a simple broom from being cursed.”

Albus nodded his head.

“Yes, you may be correct.” Albus said carefully.

The man stared hard at the Headmaster and Severus found himself holding his breath. There was steel to the man's glaze as he stared into the Headmaster's eyes.

“My son could have died today, Headmaster.” The man stated, too calmly.

“My apologies, Mr Sun.” Albus said softly. “There are charms on the grounds to soften a fall.”

All three men knew it wouldn’t have been enough to soften a fall from such a height as Blake nodded his head slowly.

“With your permission, Headmaster.” Blake said slowly. “I would like to add a couple of safety charms to the pitch.”

“You can’t.” Severus burst out before he could stop himself.

Blake looked over at him for a second, his green eyes assessing him before turning back to the Headmaster.

“In that case, my son will be withdrawn from the Quidditch team.” Blake stated, steel in his voice.

“No need to do that, Mr Sun." Albus said with a soft smile. "I’m sure Severus can supervise you placing a couple of charms on the pitch and I will look them over before tying them to the wards of Hogwarts.”

Severus glared over at the Headmaster which the other man just ignored.

“Very well,” Blake conceded, leaning back on his cane. “I will come back tomorrow at nine to cast the charms. Would that suit you, Professor?”

Snape nodded sharply, knowing when he was beat but not liking it.

“Very well, I'll see you tomorrow,” Blake nodded and gave them another look over before moving to the magical lift at the back of the stands.

“That could have been a lot worse,” Albus said softly to Severus.

“Really?” Severus asked with a smirk.

“Yes, he could have started yelling and pulled Mr Potter from the school,” Albus replied.  “He could have even taken legal action against the school.”

He'd dealt with many angry parents over the years with less of a cause then their child falling from a cursed broom.

“Plus, this gives us a chance to look at his magic,” Albus said with a grin and clapped a hand to the younger man’s shoulder. “I’ll call that a win.”

xXx

“Dad!”

Harry turned at the cry and caught the small body in his arms, his leg protesting slightly as he put more weight on it. Harry grinned taking the discomfort as he hugged his son close, running his hands through the boy’s shaggy hair.

“Did you see me catch the snitch?” Ry said excitingly as he stepped back beaming up at his father.

“I did,” Harry replied with a grin. “That was an impressive stunt.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what happened,” Ry said in a rush. “The broom just started to buck and move around!”

“It’s okay Ry,” Harry soothed, ruffling the boy’s hair. “I had you.”

Ry grinned up at his father.

“Ry!”

Harry and Ry turned at the call to see Ron standing there calling him over. Ry grinned and hugged his father one last time before dashing off after his friend with quick bye. Harry watched him go with a small smile before turning away and heading to the front gate to head home.

xXx

Harry placed his cherry wand in its holster next to the elder wand as he looked over his supplies to charm the pitch. His black elder wand covered most magic but his cherry wood wand worked better with more delicate magic. He patted down his pockets to make sure he had his phone, wallet and keys before heading out the door and using the portkey that had arrived earlier that morning to make his way to the school.

Surprisingly the portkey dropped him off at the front gate of the school, this time and Severus Snape stood waiting for him with a scowl on his face. Harry grinned as he stepped through the gates.

“Thank you for taking the time to supervise me, Professor.” Harry said in greeting. “Blake Sun, but you can call me Blake.”

“Severus Snape,” The other man greeted shaking his hand. “Severus will do.”

The two men fell into a comfortable silence as they moved towards the pitch, Severus having to slow his pace to account for Harry’s limp. Harry hadn’t gotten to know the Severus Snape from his time as well as he would have liked, since the man had died shortly before the end of the war.

He could still remember the day he came across the bloody body of Severus Snape in the greenhouse of the school after Voldemort had been killed. Over time he'd just been another name on the long list of names of people that had died that day and the weeks following.  Harry pulled his mind back to the present as they came to the pitch.

“Where do you want to cast the charms?” Severus asked looking around at the couple of older students milling around.

“Ah,” Harry thought about it. “Middle of the pitch would probably work best. I’ll have to look at all the wards and charms that have been cast first before adding anything.”

Severus nodded as he looked the other man over in surprise.

“Have you done this kind of work before?” Severus asked softly.

“More than I care to remember.” Harry replied in amusement.  “I’ve worked with the German and French governments for the last ten years placing wards. A lot of my work has been with Gringotts though.”

Severus was taken aback, the goblins didn’t let many wizards into their banks to do any kind of work, let alone wards. The two men made their way towards the middle of the pitch. Severus noticed a couple of students in the stands, enjoying the sun on a rare sunny Sunday morning.

“Do you need the children to leave?” Severus asked, looking forward to ruining the children’s day.

“Nah," Harry replied with a grin. "Leave them.”

Harry used his cane to kneel down. He placed his hand on the ground and opened his senses to the wards and charms around him and the echo of the school behind him. He could feel Albus Dumbledore watching through his connection to the wards from the Headmaster’s office and the magical signals of the students moving around the castle.

He focused on his son, just to check up on him, and found him in the Gryffindor common room with Ron and a few other students. Harry turned away from the castle and focused back on the pitch. He opened his eyes and used his cane to get back to his feet, thankful when Severus didn’t reach out to help him.

Harry slipped out of his shoes and pulled off his socks and jacket, until he stood in just his black shirt and navy jeans. The ground under his feet soft and slightly wet as he felt out the pulse of the wards and charms around him. He could also feel the presence of the man next to him and the few children milling around. He carefully drew a chalk circle around himself as Snape stepped back, watching him in interest.

He pulled the dark elder wand from his holster and brought up a protection circle up around him as he carefully channelled his magic down through his wand which was pointed at the ground.  He'd learnt through many mistakes that he had to be very careful when using the dark wand. It had too much of its own mind when it came to magic. Harry slowly took hold of the strands of magic around him but they kept slipping away from the dark wand. Harry cursed softly and dropped the wand.

“Problem?” Severus asked with a sneer.

“No,” Harry replied, pulling his cherry wood wand. “Just a temperamental wand, it doesn't want to play today.”

Severus was surprised when the man pulled a second wand from his jeans. He was able to feel the man’s magic slip across him earlier but if he hadn’t been looking for it, he wouldn’t have been able to spot it.

Harry closed his eyes and focussed once more on his magic and the wand in his hand and was able to pick up the wards easily this time. He separated out the ones he didn’t need and slowly worked on the ones that needed renewing and repairing. It looked like it had been a long time since someone had looked at the wards of Hogwarts and Harry now understood how Voldemort and his followers had been able to breach the wards in his time. He smoothed over the wards and charms as he worked through them and he could feel Albus Dumbledore becoming aware of him working.

He pushed more of his magic into the stones of Hogwarts, which it took in happily as she woke up. He could feel Albus making his way down the castle as he worked. He tidied up the wards before turning towards the pitch and working in charms to stop anyone cursing brooms or players and a few safety measures to protect the players and anyone watching. He also created a dome around the pitch so that players couldn’t fly too far or anything could get in while people were playing on the pitch. Slowly he tied off the charms and wards and grounded them to the earth at his feet and withdrew.

He blinked his eyes open to find the Headmaster standing before him with his wand drawn at his side. Throughout the whole thing Harry had never raised his wand and he slowly placed it away in the holster at his waist and broke his protection circle around him with his foot.

“Headmaster, nice of you to join us.” Harry smiled, leaning on his cane.

“You were given permission to add charms to the pitch,” The Headmaster said sternly. “Not look through the wards of the castle.”

Severus started unaware of what the man beside him had done.  He hadn’t even muttered a spell for the whole hour he'd been standing there.

“My apologies,” Harry conceded. “I needed to know what had been placed before me before adding anything more.”

“Be that as it may, you did not have permission.” Albus stated, still holding his wand, his eyes flicking down to the dark wand on the ground.

Harry slowly bent down and picked up the wand and placed it away with the other one, before pulling his jacket on.

“Apologies, I’m not good at leaving wards that need renewing or repairing alone. It's a character flaw that people point out to me on a regular basis,” Harry replied, with a slight grin. “I simply renewed what was there and fixed up a couple of breaks in the wards and charms.  Have a look for yourself.”

Dumbledore closed his eyes for a couple of minutes as he looked through the wards and found that man’s words were correct. The Headmaster put his wand away with a smile.

“Good work, my boy.” Albus smiled, once he was sure the other man hadn’t done anything to harm the school.

“There’s a protection ward there that needs to be renewed and strengthened but it would need all of the Heads of Houses and yourself present to do so.” Harry said looking at the Headmaster, holding out an olive branch to the man.

“Yes, I can feel that.” Albus replied, looking over at the shocked Snape. “I will look into it.”

Harry nodded as he picked up his shoes.

“If you don’t mind, I would like to put my shoes on and head back home." Harry said softly. "I have work to get back to.”

“Yes, yes. Thank you for coming.” Albus said smiling once again. “Severus will show you back to the front gate.”

The Headmaster turned away from the other two men and moved back towards the castle. Harry sighed and limped towards the closest stands.

“May I ask what happened to your leg?” Severus asked breaking the silence as Harry pulled his shoes back on.

“Poisonous snake,” Harry replied. “We thought we had gotten them all. We were wrong.”

Harry frowned remembering the burning feeling as the venom worked into his leg, setting it on fire as it ate away at the muscle. The first thing Ron said when he'd seen him at the hospital was simply: ‘ _It just had to be a snake, and why didn’t he talk him out of it_?’ Harry had not been amused, looking back on it now it did have a bit of irony to it.

“The mediwizards couldn’t help you?” Severus asked, a common question Harry gotten for years after the injury.

“Not for a Western Barred Snake,” Harry replied.

Severus flinched back from the name of the poisonous snake. Harry counted himself lucky to still be walking after being bitten, others hadn't been as lucky.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you Professor. I’m working on a liver regenerate potion at the moment but have hit a snag, I was wondering if I could send you the notes to look over?” Harry asked as he pulled his shoes on.

Severus looked taken aback, he did have people contact him about potions but it had been a while.

“Yes, I could do that.” Severus agreed, surprising himself.

“Thank you, I’ll send it to you tomorrow morning.” Harry smiled. “Now I really must be off, I leave for France tomorrow afternoon and I have to finish packing.”

The two men made their way to the front gates and Severus looked on as Harry used the portkey to get back home with a frown on his face.

xXx

“Blake!”

Harry turned to see a tall red headed man striding towards him with a smile as Harry met him in a hug.

“Bill,” Harry replied in greeting. “Fantastic to see you again.”

Bill Weasley grinned at the older man, looking him over with a careful eye.

“You are looking very well,” Bill said, as the two moved towards a coffee shop close by. “Have you come to help break the curse on the Flore house?”

Harry nodded in agreement, he had been contacted by Gringotts to help their curse breakers get into a dark wizard's home after the man accidently killed himself, after getting stabbed five times in the back, three weeks ago.

“Yes, goblin Grinhook contacted me a couple of days ago, only just managed to find time. Are you working on the house?” Harry questioned as they took a seat at a table, waiting for their orders to arrive.

“Yep,” Bill replied pushing his red hair out of his eyes. “Been here three weeks and have nothing to show for it. The dark wards are giving us trouble. Elizabeth is about ready to just start throwing objects at it and see what happens.”

“Sounds like her,” Harry said with a laugh.

Elizabeth Weathermore was Bill’s partner at Gringotts for the last two years. Harry had met them a few times over the years when he'd done contract work for the London branch of Gringotts.

“I met your mother a while back,” Harry said with a smile. “When I dropped Ry off at school.  Didn’t realise how many red heads are in your family.”

Bill laughed, “Yeah they see us coming a mile off!”

“Nice woman,” Harry continued. “I think Ry wants to stay at their house next school holidays?”

“Mum would love that!” Bill said with a grin. “With Charlie and myself out of the house.  She says there are too many empty rooms. Not that it stops her from sending letters every couple of weeks asking us to dinner.”

Harry smiled, wishing he'd had a mother that would have done that for him.

“Now, tell me about this house…”

xXx

The house ended up being a mansion on the outskirts of a small town in the east of England. The wizards and witches of Gringotts had set up camp outside the gates as they tried to work their way into the property. After Mr Flore’s death, the house and all the contents had become the property of the bank due to no family connections being alive. Mr Flore had lived his life as a very dark wizard but had paid his bills on time and never killed anyone that could be traced back to him.

After filling the correct paperwork with the ministry, the goblins of Gringotts had moved in however so far, they hadn’t made it any further than the front gate. They had contacted Harry after all other attempts had failed. Harry had set his contract fee high and the goblins weren’t impressed but they knew that the house would be worth it and they hadn't had much choice in the end.

“Mr Sun,” Hooknose, the head goblin greeted Harry with a sneer. “Glad you could make time for us.”

Harry looked down his nose at the short goblin, knowing how to deal with them after all this time. “Mr Hooknose, thank you for inviting me.”

The goblin sneered even more. “You have your contract, Mr Sun. Proceed.”

The goblin turned on his heels and walked away, Harry looked after him with a smile. Bill snorted next to him, which made his smile widen.

“Such a happy chap,” Harry remarked as he made his way towards the front gates of the property.

“He was overjoyed to see you!” Bill said with a laugh.

It was Harry’s turn to snort before he turned back to the house. He could feel the darkness of the wards from where he stood.

“Wow,” Harry remarked. “Haven’t felt wards this dark in a long time, I should have asked for more.”

“Can you get through them?”

“Should be able to but this could take time.” Harry said as he looked the house over. “Will all depend on the guardian.”

Harry moved forward until he stood within arm's length of the gates. A few curse breakers had gathered to watch, he always gathered a crowd when word got around that he was working. Harry turned to them.

“Everyone step back please, ten meters at least.” Harry called to the group.

Everyone shuffled back and Bill clapped him on the shoulder before stepping back with the rest. They knew how serious this was and they weren’t taking any chances. Harry turned back to the gate once he knew everyone was clear. He pulled his elder wand, which cooed in his hand to be so close to such dark magic.

Harry grounded himself to the earth under his feet before taking a deep breath.

“ _Ipsum Reelare_ ,” Harry whispered the spell, feeling the dark magic around him and stretching out towards the other wizards and witches.

“Move back further!” Harry called over his shoulder.

Suddenly a dark dragon appeared before Harry rearing up on its back legs and crashing back down towards the earth. Harry held his ground with his wand before him, showing none of the fear he felt in his stomach. His hand clenched around the handle of his cane. The dragon’s head lowered until it looked him right in the eye and huffed a breath. Harry felt the dark magic swirl around him as the dark wand in his hand absorbed the magic happily.

“Your master is dead,” Harry said calmly. “Gringotts Bank is now the owner of this house and all its contents.”

The dragon cocked its head to the side then pulled its lips back from very large teeth and flicked its forked tongue out.  A hissing laugh boiled up in its belly as it milled over the words Harry had spoken as he waited the beast out.

“ _It is yours, small wizard_.” The dragon hissed. “ _Enter at your own risk_.”

Just as suddenly as the dragon had appeared it disappeared into mist, blowing open the front gate softly. Harry sighed and lowered his wand as he thought that could have gone very, very wrong.  Cheers rang out behind him and he felt a hand slap him on the shoulder.

“Well done, Blake.” Bill congratulated the other wizard. “Never seen anything like it. Is it safe now?”

Harry shook his head. “He was just the guardian. It’s safe to enter through the gate but this house will hold more than just him.”

Bill looked concerned. “We'll have to take care then.”

Harry smiled and flicked his wand sending the dark magic it had gathered harmlessly into the ground.

“Oh, yes.” Harry grinned. “This should be fun. I think a coffee break is needed before we move in?”

xXx

Two hours later Harry, Bill and three other wizards and one witch walked back up to the front gates of the mansion. Harry took the lead with Bill and his partner Elizabeth behind him and with the other three wizards taking up the rear. Harry placed his wand back in his holster and took his cane in a tighter grip as he moved through the gate.

“Follow in my footsteps.” Harry warned.

He moved across the lawn, keeping away from the patches of magic he could sense. He didn’t look at them too closely, not really wanting to know what they would do if they were tripped.

“How dark was this man?” Harry asked as he passed a curse that felt like tar.

“He helped Grindelwald rise to power.” One wizard said softly.

Harry grimaced. “So just a little dark.”

Bill snorted next to them as the front door came into view before them.

“I thought most of the Dark Wizards from that war died off a long time ago,” Harry remarked.

“Most of them yes,” The man that had answered before said. “They had their magic tied to the old Dark Lord so that when he fell, they did as well. Mr Flore, however, was behind the wards of this house when the Dark Lord fell.”

Harry nodded in understanding since the wards of the house would have kept the man safe.

“It was just unlucky that when he left to get some shopping he fell backwards on a knife…five times,” Gordon, one of the other wizards remarked with a slight laugh.

Harry could understand why so many Dark Wizard’s deaths, were not investigated but it still didn’t make it right. They had a legal right just as much as any other magic user. When they reached the front door Harry stopped and held out his left hand to the door and carefully placed it on the dark wood. He felt the dragon’s breath on his face as his hand touched the door.

“Blake Sun representing Gringotts bank,” Harry said carefully.

The door before him seemed to be thinking about what Harry said carefully and he could feel the nervousness of the people behind him, as they stood waiting. A hot huff of a breath breezed across Harry’s face before the doors swung open quietly.

Harry stepped over the threshold and allowed the other members of his team to step into the large open receiving area. Two staircases curled up both sides of the room and lead to the second-floor landing leaving the main area open. Harry could see a few other doors around the room and could see right through the house to the garden at the back.

“Okay,” Harry announced, leaning back on his cane. “You all know what to do. Just be careful and check in on your walkie every half an hour. If you need any help call out.”

The team nodded and moved out into the house. They would work through the house room by room and write down and take photos of everything for the goblins to work out what they wanted to leave and what they wanted to take back to the vaults of Gringotts. Harry looked around the large room, eyeing off the portraits looking down at him.

“ _Lumoius_.” He muttered, sending up a light into the middle of the room as the teams moved out leaving him alone in the entrance hall. 

The walls were bare except for the portraits of what he believed were members of the now dead line of the Flore family. What was strange for Harry was the fact that none of the painting moved, in fact they may have even been muggle paintings.

He moved further into the hall, his light following him. He could feel the magic of the other teams as they made their way through the house and since they didn’t call out and everyone was keeping walkie-talkie contact he wasn’t too concerned. The house had conceded when it had let them in, it was just the dark objects in the house that could give them a bite and the charms around the grounds.

Harry moved down the hallway towards the garden he'd been able to see from the front doors. He opened the back door to see a fantastic garden with wild roses and hedges everywhere. Harry grinned and took a seat at the outdoor table in the sun to wait out the workers from Gringotts, on hand in case they needed help with anything. This was the way to work, he thought, as he pulled out a book from his pocket and kicked his feet up onto the table as he looked out over the garden before him. Now he just had to convince someone to get him a coffee.

xXx

“Did you want to come to dinner at my parent’s house?”

Harry looked up from the letter Ry had sent him to see Bill standing in the doorway looking at him with a smile.

 “As long as your parents don’t mind?” Harry replied, with a smile.

“Nah, Mum always makes too much food anyway. She forgets that it's just her, dad and Ginny now.” Bill laughed.

“Then of course,” Harry replied as he held up the letter in his hand. “I’ll just reply to Ry first?”

“No problems,” Bill said. “I’ll come back at 4?”

“Sounds good.”

As promised Bill arrived back at Harry’s tent at four that afternoon, he'd been staying on site at the Flore house for three days now as the Gringotts's teams worked their way through the house. He'd been needed a few times but otherwise he'd been left to himself in his own tent.

Bill held out his arm for Harry to take to side along apparate to his family’s farm and Harry took it with a grin. He stumbled slightly as they landed and Bill held him firm until he could get his feet under him and his cane firmly on the ground.

“Welcome to the Burrow,” Bill said with a grin.

The house rose out of the wheat fields around them as a puzzle house, it looked like the family had grabbed rooms from other houses and just stacked them one on top of another with the thought of gravity just a concept and not reality. Harry knew that it was only magic holding the house together and if the Weasley line ever died out the house would just come crashing down.

Bill laughed at Harry’s wide-eyed look as he took in the house.

“It’s something, isn’t it?” Bill said in amusement

“Oh, yes.” Harry said and grinned back at Bill as the man lead the way towards the house.

Molly stood on the front step as the two men rounded the corner of one of the fields. She grinned widely and took Bill in a big hug.

“Bill,” She cried, burying her face in the tall man’s chest. “So good to see you.”

Arthur appeared behind his wife and gave his son a manly hug as well.

“Blake,” Molly greeted turning to Harry. “So nice to see you again, how is young Ry going at school?”

Harry grinned as he gave the woman a hug and Arthur a handshake.

“Nice of you to invite me to dinner,” Harry replied. “Ry is doing well at school. When he can keep out of trouble.”

“No need to tell me that,” Molly said, leading them into the house. “My Fred and George will be the death of me! They sent me a toilet seat for Christmas one year!”

Bill laughed as Arthur and Harry grinned. He could see Ginny shyly peeking around the door at them.

“Bill!” Ginny shouted, and ran over to give her older brother a hug.

“Hello, little one.” Bill cooed. “Aren’t you growing into a lovely young lady?”

Ginny blushed and looked down at the carpet shyly.

“Blake, you remember my youngest, Ginny?” Molly asked as she bustled passed him towards the kitchen.

“Yes I remember,” Harry looked down at the ten year old. “Very nice to meet you, Ms Weasley.”

Ginny blushed even more and moved behind her older brother.

“Don’t mind her, Blake.” Molly called, from the kitchen. “Would you like tea?”

“Yes, thank you.” Harry replied, looking around the house.

It looked the same as he remembered and memories crowded around him. He had to push them roughly to the side or he risked drowning under them as he focused on Arthur and Bill.

“Oh, before I forget.” Harry said.  “Ry was asking about staying here with Ron for the holidays.”

“We would be happy to have him,” Arthur replied, sitting down in his chair.

“Oh, yes.” Molly agreed, moving back into the living room with a tea tray. “Ron can talk about nothing else but your son in his letters!”

“That would be fantastic,” Harry smiled. “I’m off to Germany in a couple of weeks to work at a couple of World War Two sites, this means I can stay there for longer.”

Arthur sat forward in his seat in interest.

“Really? Do you work with muggles?” Arthur asked.

“Sometimes, I work on contract so I work with both wizards and muggles depending on the contract.” Harry said, sitting back in his chair with his cup of tea.  “I’ll be working with muggles as well as wizards this time, but I have made time to see a couple of high-profile potion masters.”

“Blake works with Gringotts as well,” Bill added. “He has been helping with the Flore house.”

Harry sat back and let the family catch up as they moved to the dining table. Harry joined in with a few jobs that had gone wrong embarrassingly until his mobile phone broke into the conversations.

“Sorry,” Harry apologised, looking down at the phone. “I’ll just take this outside.”

Arthur looked very interested, but Molly cut across him before he could say anything.

“That’s okay, dear.” Molly said.

Harry smiled.

“Hello, Blake Sun talking.” Harry answered as he moved out of the house.

“Blake, It’s Conner Fritz from the German Ministry.” A heavily accented voice came across the phone.

Harry raised an eyebrow. “What can I do for you Mr Fritz?”

“Well, we heard that you were going to be in the country and was wondering if you could look at the couple of items for us?” Conner asked.

Harry smiled and said, “Of course, Mr Fritz. My contract price starts at…”

xXx

Bill turned to his parents after Blake had left the room.

“What do you think of him?” Bill asked softly.

“He’s a nice man and he loves his son very much.” Molly said with a smile.

“I’ve seen him around the Ministry recently, mostly down near the Department of Mysteries.” Arthur noted.

“Yes,” Bill said with a grin.  “He's a brilliant curse breaker. He seems to know magic from the inside out, like he was born with a wand in his hand.”

“Do you know how he became Harry Potter's guardian?” Molly asked.

“I’m related to James Potter,” Came the reply from Blake as he came back into the dining room. “Sorry about the phone call.”

“That’s alright, dear.” Molly smiled. “What was that about James Potter?”

“I’m related to James.” Blake replied sitting back at the table and the Weasleys could see the Potter line in his dark hair. “When James was killed, the goblins at Gringotts contacted me.  I was his closest relative with magic.  He'd been placed with his Aunt and Uncle but they are muggles, so I went to see them. Horrible woman, his Aunt quickly signed Ry over to me.”

Molly looked horrified. “Just like that?”

Harry nodded, remembering the night.

“But please, tell me about your other children?” Harry asked turning the conversation back onto safer grounds.

xXx

Harry was packing away his gear as he was heading back to England tomorrow. Ry would be finishing his first year at Hogwarts and coming back home for the holidays and he needed to clean up the house before his son came home and stock up the fridge and freezer. Suddenly his phone broke through his thoughts.

“Blake Sun,” Harry answered, placing his jeans into the suitcase on the bed.

“Mr Sun, it’s Albus Dumbledore.”

Harry stood up straight.

“What has happened?” Harry snapped.

“Your son is okay but there was an incident here and he was injured.” Albus said softly.

Harry sat down on the bed behind him. He knew something like this was going to happen but couldn't recall the details. He looked at the date on his watch and frowned since it was still three weeks until the end of term.

“What happened?” Harry asked, steel behind his words.

“Mr Potter wondered into an area of the school that was restricted and was injured. He's in the hospital wing at the moment and is being looked after by Madam Pomfrey.”

“I am out of the country at the moment,” Harry replied. “But I’ll be there by tomorrow morning?”

“Perfect." Albus said softly. "We still have about three weeks of term, you are welcome to stay here while Ry recovers?”

“Thank you, for the offer. I’ll see you tomorrow Headmaster.” Harry hung up the phone and stared at it, feeling the slight magic in the device.

It looked like Professor Quirrell and Voldemort had attempted the same thing in this time as they had in Harry’s time, which scared the crap out of him. This was his son, that this was happening to. Slowly he dialled the number of the phone that he'd given Severus. It rang twice before the other man picked up.

“Severus, what happened?” Harry asked.

Silence greeted him for a couple of seconds before he heard the man sigh.

“What did the Headmaster tell you, Blake?” Snape said softly.

“That there was an incident and Ry was injured.” Harry replied.

“That's correct,” Severus said slowly. “The Headmaster had an artefact kept in an out of bounds room. Someone tried to steal it and your son tried to stop them.”

“Thank you for telling me Severus." Harry said with a sigh "I’m in Germany at the moment but I’m taking an International Portkey tomorrow morning. I should be at the school at about nine.”

“I’ll be waiting at the front gate for you,” Severus replied, making Harry smile.

“Thank you.” Harry hung up the phone and went back to packing.

xXx

At nine the next morning Harry arrived at the front gates of Hogwarts, after having near to no sleep and had been travelling since six that morning. Severus greeted him with a handshake and led him up to the castle.

“Dad!” Ry cried, from his bed when he saw his father.

Harry rushed over as fast as his leg would allow and took the small body in his arms as the boy burst into tears.

“I’m so sorry, dad!” Ry sobbed into his shoulder as Harry slid onto the bed, his cane forgotten on the floor. “I shouldn’t have gone after him!”

“Shh, it’s okay Ry.” Harry cooed in his ear as he rubbed Ry’s back to calm him down. “You’re okay now.”

Harry could see Severus moving towards him with a vial of calming potion in his hand. He passed the potion over to Harry who passed it to Ry to take.

“Feel better?” Harry asked softly.

Ry nodded and looked between his father and the looming figure of Severus Snape with wide eyes as Harry took back the empty vial and passed it to the Slytherin.

“Have you come to take me home?” Ry asked in a small voice.

“Not yet,” Harry answered. “But after the end of the year feast in a few weeks, the Headmaster has offered for me to stay here until then.”

Ry nodded, his eyes already closing. Harry stroked the boy’s hair until he fell asleep. Severus picked up Harry’s cane and held it out to the man as he got to his feet. Harry nodded in thanks before the two men moved away from the bed.

“Did the Headmaster want to see me?” Harry asked, keeping his son within eyesight.

“If you want to talk to him,” Severus replied. “Or I can explain it all.”

“That will do,” Harry replied. “I need to sit down.”

Severus raised an eyebrow at the admission and moved them towards the dungeons and his rooms.

“Is your leg giving you trouble?” Severus asked carefully.

Harry nodded, leaning into his cane more than normal. He'd been pushing himself too far lately and it was starting to catch up with him.

“It comes and goes,” Harry answered. “How are you going with that new Wolfsbane Potion?”

Severus let him change the subject as they made it to his rooms and he opened the door into a tasteful living room. Harry limped to the lounge chair and sunk into the cushions with a sigh as he hung his cane from the side of the chair.

“Do you need a pain potion?” Severus asked, already moving to his office.

“No,” Harry said shortly. “A cup of tea would go down a treat though.”

Severus moved into the small kitchen as Harry stretched his leg out before him and rubbed the missing muscle. Cursing that stupid snake once again.

“Wolfsbane Potion, Severus?” Harry asked the younger man.

Severus looked back into the room.

“No luck so far,” Severus replied.

“Damn,” Harry cursed. “I thought we were on to something.”

“I agree,” Severus said as he moved back into the room with two mugs of tea.

He handed one to Harry as he moved to the chair next to Harry’s lounge and sat down. Harry took a couple of sips of the tea then looked over to Severus sharply, the other man raised an eyebrow in question. Harry let it slid that Severus had placed a pain potion into the cup.

“Thank you.” Harry said softly, taking another sip.

Severus smiled, taking ten years off his age and Harry looked the man over.

“You are welcome.”

The two men fell into a comfortable silence as the pain potion slowly worked through Harry’s system until he was sitting boneless in the armchair with his eyes half closed. Severus kept glancing over at him.

“How was Germany?” Severus asked, breaking the silence.

“Hard work,” Harry replied. “We were looking for mass graves.”

Severus grimaced. “Muggle or wizard?”

“Both. We found two sites. It wasn't pleasant. They just piled them up on top of each other, no care for the dead. The Ministry had some interesting items though.”

Harry pulled out a small black cube from his jacket pocket and held it out to Severus, the other man plucked it from his hand. It looked to have been made from a dark coloured wood in the shape of a cube but Severus could find no rings like you would expect from wood and it wasn’t smooth like stone. He could feel no magic from it, but he knew it wasn’t of muggle design.

“What is it?” Severus asked turning it over in his hands.

“No idea,” Harry replied. “Took it as payment. They had no idea what it was and were happy to hand it over.”

“Where did they find it?”

“Under the floor boards of a Prisoner of War camp.  One day, I’ll work it out.”

Severus placed the object on the coffee table between them.

“Are you back here in England for a while?” Severus asked.

“Yeah, back home with Ry until two weeks before the start of school then Ry is off to the Weasley’s house. Molly offered to take the kids to Diagon Alley to get their supplies and take Ry to the station.”

“That’s nice of her,” Severus replied, sneering.

“A mother to the core, that one.” Harry laughed. “Couldn’t pay me enough to take five kids to Diagon Alley. One is enough.”

“Try a whole school worth,” Severus replied dryly.

Harry laughed, finishing off his cup of tea. Severus reached out for the cup.

“Do you want another one?” Severus asked, looking into the other man's pale green eyes.

“Yes, thanks.” Harry smiled. “One that’s not laced this time.”

Severus smiled back as he moved towards the kitchen.

“One unlaced cup of tea coming up.”


	2. Chapter Two

 

Harry picked up his phone after the third ring.

“Yeah?” Harry slurred into the phone, not quite awake yet.

“You forgot to mention that your son is a Parselmouth,” Severus’s easy tone came down the phone line.

“Severus?” Harry asked, his mind a little jumbled and his leg on fire.

He could see the time on his bedside table flashing 4 o’clock and he was sure that was in the afternoon. Since the blackout curtains made the room dark around him.

“Blake? Are you okay?” Severus’s voice sounded concerned and Harry wasn’t sure why.

Harry rolled onto his back and hissed a breath. His ribs complained and his head throbbed. He wasn’t thinking clearly as he tried to remember how he got home.

“Had a mishap,” Harry replied, words slightly slurred.

He remembered yelling and being airborne before pain and more yelling. He wasn't sure what happened after that.

“What kind of mishap?” Severus asked sharply. “Where are you?”

“At home,” Harry replied, looking around to confirm.

How he got there seemed to keep sliding away from him. He remembered people around him but couldn’t recall how he'd gotten home. He didn’t realise he had fallen back to sleep until he felt someone cross over his wards like a jolt to the system. Harry opened his eyes and tried to turn over onto his side but his body wasn’t listening.

xXx

“Blake?”

Severus knocked on the front door of the man’s house but no one answered. He grew more concerned about Blake by the second. He knocked one last time before trying the front door. The door click open and Severus moved into the tidy house. He made his way through the living room and towards the bedroom. He found Blake’s room at the end of the hall. The room was dark when he opened the door.

“Blake?” Severus called softly.

“Yeah, here.” The other man slurred back.

“I’m going to turn the light on.”

Bright light lit up the room and Severus eyed the dark haired man lying under the covers of the bed.  Severus could see the bruise on the side of the man’s face from the doorway and it didn’t look any better as he moved closer. The man’s eyes were just slits as he peered up at Severus.

“Too bright,” Blake slurred, trying to turn his head away.

Severus turned the bedside lamp on and went back to turn the other light off. For a wizard, Blake's house was completely muggle. When he moved back to the bed, Blake had closed his eyes once again.

“Do you mind if I have a look?” Severus asked, his hand resting on the blanket covering the man’s chest.

“Yeah,” Blake replied, not bothering to open his eyes. “Hurt my ribs and hip. I think.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure. I was working with a team when one of them set something off.” Blake replied slowly.

Severus carefully peeled back the blanket and saw more of the damage done to the other man. The colour across the man’s ribs stood out the worse against the man’s pale skin.

“I remember I hit a wall…I think. There was yelling. I’m not sure what happened to the team…I hit my head pretty bad.” Blake whispered.

Severus moved his fingers up to the man’s skull and found a gash and swelling, but someone had cleaned it up and stitched the gash closed and he could feel the slight magic around the wound.

“Someone has looked at this,” Severus said softly, as he moved back to the man’s ribs making him hiss as he felt out the damage. "They have closed it up."

“Don’t remember,” Blake replied softly.

“Probably a concussion,” Severus muttered, removing the blanket to reveal the rest of the damage.

The other man was only wearing his underwear, which Severus was thankful for. But what drew his eyes was the old damage to the man’s right leg from the snakebite. It had eaten away the muscle in the man’s thigh, leaving a mess behind. He was amazed that the man could still walk on it.

“Severus?”

Severus looked back up to see Blake looking back at him with dull green eyes.

“I have something for the bruising, were you wearing some kind of armour?” Severus asked, as he moved the blanket back over the man.

“Yeah, my dragon hide vest.” Blake replied slowly. “I don’t know where it is now.”

Blake sounded frustrated, so Severus laid a hand on the man’s shoulder in comfort.

“It’s okay,” Severus said softly. “Once the swelling goes down you should remember.”

Blake nodded then closed his eyes in pain. Severus placed a pain potion at the man’s lips. He swallowed it down without looking, either trusting Severus or he was just that far out of it. The man sagged back into the bed as the pain reliever worked it’s magic.

“Thanks,” Blake muttered.

“I’m going to put some balm on your ribs to help with the bruising.”

Blake nodded and tipped his head back as Severus worked on his ribs.

“It's a good thing that you were wearing that vest or you may have broken a few bones.”

“No broken ribs?” Blake asked

“None that I can feel and someone has already applied a balm to these ribs,” Severus reported.

He spread the balm across the other man’s ribs and hip.  His fingers skipped over the man's ribs and hip and he ignored how well toned he was under his hand. He would guess that he was in his late forties to early fifties, which would make him about ten years older than Severus, as he worked the balm in. He could clearly see the gash and the slight lump on his head through his short hair. There was no denying that the man was from the Potter line and Severus could see a lot of James Potter in the man as he looked him over.

His eyes, which were similar to Harry and Lily Potter, were the big difference and the man's height. James had been a lot taller and his hair had been more of a dark brown than Blake's pitch black. The man had a kindness and a sense of humour around him as they worked together on projects and potions. Severus let his thoughts drift as he worked.

 “I need you to turn onto your right side,” Severus stated.

Blake opened his eyes and nodded.

Severus gave him a hand to move onto his side and Severus got his first look at the man’s back. It was littered with scars. They overlapped each other running from his shoulder to his lower back then down his arms to his elbows and they were very old. The bruising was just as bad on his side and Severus started to work the balm into the bruised skin, his fingers skipping over the faint scars.

“I was tortured,” Blake whispered after a few minutes of silence.

He was almost sprawled out across his front with a pillow under his chest and stomach.

“Why?” Severus asked.

“I had information that someone wanted.” Blake recalled, the pain potion working as he lay boneless.  “They weren’t too happy when I didn’t give it too them.”

Severus didn't know what to say to that as he worked the balm into the bruising. He could tell when the other man fell asleep for his breathing evened out and the lines around his eyes eased off. He ran his fingers over the scars on the man’s back, he must have been tortured for a long time and yet it threw up questions of why in Severus’s mind. They still didn't know much about Blake Sun.

He pulled a stethoscope from his robes and placed it against Blake’s back to listen to his breathing. After a few minutes he put it away satisfied that there was no liquid in the man’s lungs. He left the jar of bruising balm on the bedside table next to the man’s two wands, one pale and the other dark. Along with a couple of pain potions and another potion to help mend any bones in case there were hairline fractures in his ribs.

Blake suddenly mumbled something in his sleep, startling Severus and making him turn back to the man. He was frowning slightly in his sleep and Severus reached out a hand and placed it on the man’s side without thinking. He settled under his hand before he rolled onto his back. Severus placed the blanket back over the man and left him to rest.

xXx

 Harry woke the next morning feeling a lot better. His memories sliding back into place slowly. He sat up carefully and took a dose of the pain potion that Severus had left behind. Very grateful for the man’s help, after the pain potion started to work, Harry pulled himself to his feet and moved slowly towards his cupboard were he kept a spare cane. Taking the old cane in hand he moved towards the bathroom.

Once the hot water was running and steam started to fill the bathroom. He got into the shower and allowed the hot water to ease the tension in his muscles working into the bruising in his side and the muscles of his right leg. He ignored his cock at the remembered feelings of Severus’s fingers running over his side and down his back as he scrubbed himself down with the soap. He let his head rest on the tiles as the warm water ran over his back.

“Blake?”

Harry startled at the voice from the doorway and almost slipped.

“Fuck,” Harry cursed as he got his feet back under him.

“Bad time?” Severus asked from the doorway.

Harry opened the shower door and looked over at the man leaning in the doorway.

“Sorry,” Harry apologised. “I thought I was alone. You startled me.”

Severus grinned at him. “Do you need a hand?”

Harry laughed and said, “Are you offering Snape?”

Severus grinned wider, the expression changing his face. Harry quirked a smile at that.

“With getting you back to your room?” Severus expanded.

“Nah,” Harry replied, pulling back into the shower and letting the water run over his head. “All good. Could you put the kettle on, please? I'm dying for a coffee.”

Harry didn’t hear an answer but when he stepped out of the shower the other man was gone. Harry made it back to his room and slowly dressed before moving to the kitchen.  Severus was pouring the hot water into a mug and Harry looked him over. He was more relaxed away from the school as he handed the mug over to Harry.

“I spoke to the Headmaster,” Severus started to say. “I told him that you needed some help and that I would be away from classes for a couple of days.”

Harry raised an eyebrow at that.

“I’m sure Ry will be happy,” Harry remarked in amusement.

Severus quirked a smile.

“He is a smart boy, if you can get him to focus.” Severus commented.

“Yes, that's half the battle,” Harry replied. “I’m sure I had more grey hairs after the Headmaster told me that Ry and Ron used a flying car to get to school. He just never seems to learn, he could have just called me. He needs to think more before acting.”

“Too much of his father in him," Severus muttered with a smirk.

“Hey, watch it.” Harry yelped. “I’ve got that Potter blood too.”

“More diluted I hope?” Severus retorted.

Harry just laughed but said no more. The two men fell back into silence until Severus got up to make up a couple of sandwiches for the two of them and they sat down to have a pleasant enough lunch.

xXx

“So, let me get this straight.” Harry said slowly trying to rein in his temper. “My son went down into a chamber in this school and battled with a basilisk, saved Ginny Weasley from a copy of the Dark Lord in a diary and erased the memory of one of your teachers?”

The Headmaster looked at him with clear blue eyes.

“Yes, that’s about it.” The Headmaster said calmly.

Harry looked around at Ry and Ginny in their hospital beds, Molly and Arthur looking over their daughter and then to Severus, leaning against the wall talking with Professor McGonagall.

“What kind of school are you running here?” Harry asked, running his hand down his face.

Severus snorted. Harry wondered if all parents felt like he did now or if it was just because his son was the boy-who-lived. The anger he felt towards Albus was nothing compared to what he felt at himself. To try and remember what happened to him as a twelve year old at the age he was now. He sighed in frustration as he ran a hand over his head. He pushed his dark thoughts to the side as he focused back on Albus.

“I am very sorry this happened to your son, Mr Sun.” Albus apologised.

“I feel tempted to pull my son from this school-"

“No Dad!” Ry cried from the bed.

Harry turned his glare on his son, stopping the boy from saying anymore before turning back to the headmaster.

“The only thing stopping me from doing that, is the fact that Lily and James Potter put it in their will,” Harry said softly, glaring at the Headmaster. “That is the only reason, but that only goes so far. I would be just as happy to teach Ry myself or enrol him in another school. Am I understood Headmaster Dumbledore?”

Albus nodded and said quietly, “Yes, I understand. I will leave you with your son.”

Albus nodded at the Weasley’s and made his way out of the room with McGonagall on his heels, hissing at him.  Harry turned to his son, a lot of his anger leaving him as he looked at the sad image his son made on the bed. He limped over to the child's bed and sat on the side taking the boy’s uninjured hand in his.

“Harry,” Harry said softly, using the boy’s full name to get his attention.

Ry looked up at him sadly, tears slipping down his face. Harry reached up and cupped the boy’s face.

“You know I love you dearly, Ry.” Harry said softly. “But if you keep this up, you are going to give your old man a heart attack.”

Ry smiled as Harry heard a snort from Severus.

“My hair is going to be whiter than Dumbledore’s,” Harry said with a wink.

“I’m sorry,” Ry sobbed.

Harry hugged the boy close and looked over at Severus leaning against the wall watching them with soft black eyes. He looked over at the Weasley’s to see Molly looking back at them with tears in her eyes. Harry nodded at her before letting Ry go and tucking him into the bed. The twelve year old looked so small in the bed, his eyes puffy from crying and the big scrape down his cheek.

“You rest now Ry,” Harry said softly.

He pushed some loose hair away from the boy’s eyes revealing the red and puffy scar under his fringe. Harry stared at that scar as Ry’s eyes closed and couldn’t help but silently curse the man that had given him that scar. So much trouble from such a simple scar. He looked down at the child and felt his heart clench. He was putting a lot of trust in Albus to keep his son safe. Since he was having so much trouble recalling the events himself.  

He did know there were only more dangers to come and he still had work to do before Voldemort would come back to power. Which was an event that had to happen for Ry to be free from the man and his connection to him. Harry sighed and ran a hand over his head as he looked down at the small boy and let his hand rest on his shoulder. He pulled himself to his feet and moved towards the Weasleys as Severus stood up a little taller, watching him carefully.

“I am very sorry for what happened tonight,” Harry said softly, not wanting to wake the children.

Molly crashed into his arms and Harry's arms circled around the woman as he took his weight off his right leg.

“Oh, Blake,” Molly cried into his shoulder and Harry looked over to Arthur for help.

“Come on, Molly.” Arthur whispered in woman’s ear. “The man needs to breath.”

“Oh,” Molly cried, letting go of Harry suddenly.

Harry almost fell, if it weren’t for Severus moving up beside him and taking his shoulder in his hand holding him steady. Harry placed his cane firmly on the ground to take part of his weight once again. Severus slid his hand off his shoulder but stayed beside him.

“You have nothing to apologise for Blake,” Arthur remarked, looking down at his own daughter.  “We think of Ry as part of our family and if it weren’t for him we wouldn’t have our daughter still with us.”

“Yes,” Molly sniffed. “We should be thanking Ry and yourself.”

Harry shook his head.

“There is no need,” Harry said softly.

“We wish to say it anyway,” Arthur stated.

Harry nodded.

“Thank you.”

xXx

Harry decided to take Ry away to America for the holidays instead of staying in England before he would start his third year at school. It was a week before Ry was due to start school when he called him into the office of the house they were renting. He'd been putting this off while he'd tried to come to a decision.

“You called Dad?” Ry asked, coming through the door.

“Yes,” Harry answered, pointing to the seat on the other side of the table. “Take a seat, I have a few things to talk to you about.”

Ry nervously entered the room and took a seat at the table. Harry pulled out a copy of the English paper with Sirius’s face on the front page. He hesitantly held the paper out to the thirteen year old. The boy took the paper and looked at the photo.

“Hey, that’s one of my father’s friends.” Ry exclaimed.

Harry nodded, knowing the boy would have known what Sirius looked like from the photos of his parents he had given the boy. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had been in those photos as well as a couple of Lily and Severus. He'd found lots of photos when he'd gone through the Potter vaults at Gringotts.

“Yes, Sirius Black.” Harry replied unsure about what he should tell his son. “He been imprisoned in the wizard prison called Azkaban for the last twelve years. He was a friend of your father’s and is also your godfather.”

“Why was he in prison?”

“When people wanted to hide from the Dark Lord they would ask someone to keep their location secret." Harry explained. "There is a spell that can be cast that will keep a location a secret. One person holds the information and they are the only one that can give out that location to another person. That person is known as a 'Secret Keeper'. The location can't be found until the secret keeper gives it up. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Dad." Ry replied.

“Your mother and father needed to go into hiding so they asked one of their friends to be their secret keeper,” Harry continued. “They decided it was going to be Sirius that would be their secret keeper.”

Harry stopped talking unsure of what he should say next as Ry looked up at him with wide green eyes. Harry didn't talk about his parents often or his own past.

“They changed it at the last moment to Peter Pettigrew instead.” Harry finished, he just couldn’t lie to his son anymore. “He betrayed them and let Sirius take the blame. Your mother and father were murdered that night. Sirius went after Peter and a street full of people were blown up. He was arrested and taken to Azkaban. I went to see him after I took over custody of you. He was mad when I saw him, I went to tell him that I was going to look after you for James and Lily. That I was trying to reopen his case.”

Harry could still hear Sirius's cries and yells while he'd explained that James and Lily’s son was still alive. That he would take care of him but the dementors had already done damage to the man. Even if, he'd only been there a couple of months. Harry couldn’t get through to him and Sirius's pale eyes had glared at him the whole time. Those yells still haunted him.

“So he was falsely arrested?” Ry asked softly

“Yes,” Harry answered. “I tried to get his case reopened but he kept yelling about killing people. Every time I would put paperwork in to reopen the case, it would be rejected. The legal system in the wizarding world is still so backwards.”

“It says here that he escaped?” Ry pointed out.

“Yes,” Harry agreed. “I want you to be very careful Ry. Sirius can be a dangerous man, even if I don’t think he will hurt you. He may do it without meaning to, he was a Auror before he was imprisoned. Professor Dumbledore has already contacted me to inform me that there will be dementors at the school this year. You must be very careful, do you understand?”

“Okay, Dad.” Ry said softly as he nodded.

“Okay, Ry.” Harry said as he reached over and ruffled his son's messy hair. “How about you go pack up? We leave tomorrow to get all your school things."

xXx

Harry found himself skipping around the world for most of Ry’s school year. The Japanese had a big need for him after they opened an old temple that cursed the people that had opened it. Harry had had fun tracking down each person that had opened the temple before he could lift it. He did get a call from the Headmaster to say that the new wards on the Quidditch pitch work fantastically and that Ry was fine. Harry didn’t look at that too closely as the German Ministry called him back to Europe.

He was happy to receive Ry's letters and made sure to check in at every Gringotts branch to pick up any mail for him. He also made sure that he called Ry whenever he got a chance. Ry was enjoying Hogwarts more than he had liked his boarding school.

He was in contact with Severus just about every week as they were working on a new Wolfsbane potion. Harry made sure to see the man whenever he was in England but it wasn't for as long as he hoped as he was called away again. It wasn’t until close to the end of the school year that Harry made his way back to Hogwarts. The goblins finally giving him a break.

“Blake.”

Harry turned to see Severus smiling at him from the front gates of the school. He moved towards the man with a grin.

“Severus,” Harry cried and took the man in a hug, which surprised the Slytherin. “It’s so good to see you again.”

Harry stepped back from the shocked man, giving him a last pat on the shoulder before limping up towards the school. Severus quickly fell into step with him and adjusted his longer stride.

“The Headmaster has made up a room near mine, while you are here.” Severus remarked to the older man.

“Great,” Harry said with a grin. “That should make it easier to work in the lab.”

“Yes,” Severus agreed. “Only downside is that my classroom is a few doors down from the lab.”

“I’m sure I'll be able to deal with the children,” Harry replied with a laugh.

Harry was looking forward to staying at Hogwarts for the last month of the term and helping Severus with the Wolfsbane potion. Not to mention it would be good to see Ry again.

“Dad!”

Harry looked up as he walked into the entrance hall to catch Ry as he ran into him. Harry grunted as the boy hugged him, Ry was already up to his shoulder, he guessed it wouldn’t be long until the boy grew taller than he was. Probably thanks to proper food intake, something Harry had missed out on at his age. He gently pushed the boy back and looked him over.

“Hello Ry,” Harry said in greeting with a lopsided grin. "What are they feeding you?"

“Dad," Ry groaned as he bounced on his toes. "I have so many things to show you!"

“We'll have plenty of time, Ry.” Harry replied with a smile. “I am here until the end of the term and then we'll be staying here for a couple of weeks after.”

Ry grinned, then looked behind him at a brown-haired man in a tweed suit, worn black robes and sharp eyes. The man looked Harry over as he moved closer with an odd look in his eyes.

“Oh, Dad.” Ry said happily. “This is Professor Lupin, he teachers Defence.”

Harry stood up straighter and held out a hand to his father’s old friend with a smile.

“Blake Sun,” Harry introduced. “Very nice to meet you.”

Remus smiled at him and took his hand.

“Remus Lupin, please call me Remus.” The man introduced.

“Remus it is,” Harry agreed.

“Blake is here to work on a new Wolfsbane potion,” Severus remarked silkily at Harry’s shoulder.

Harry could feel the tension increase between the two men as Remus stared at the smirking Severus. Remus then focused back on him.

“That’s interesting,” Remus said slowly. “Are you a Potion Master?”

“Dad does everything!” Ry said quickly.

Severus looked down his long nose at Ry and the boy settled down beside them. Harry smacked his arm as Remus watched the interaction with interest.

“I dabble,” Harry replied, ignoring Severus’s snort. “My main work is a curse breaker.”

“Oh,” Remus said lightly. “Do you work for Gringotts?”

“Sometimes, I work on contract.”

“He is brilliant!” Ry pipped up.

“Thank you Ry,” Harry said quickly before Severus could say anything cutting. “If you don’t mind Ry and Remus, but it’s been a long day and I would like to get settled before dinner?”

“Okay dad,” Ry agreed with a grin. “I have an extra class with Professor Lupin tonight but can I come and see you after?”

“Of course,” Harry smiled. “My rooms are down near the potion’s classroom?”

Harry turned to Severus with a raised eyebrow in question and the man gave him a smirk.

“Third door on the left after the potions classroom,” Severus replied evenly.

Ry nodded in thanks and with a last hug moved off down the hall. The adults watched the child for a couple of minutes.

“He’s a smart boy and very talented,” Remus remarked, looking back at Harry.

“That he is,” Harry agreed. “When he puts his mind to something he can be quite stubborn too.”

Remus gave him a grin before bidding them goodbye and headed off down the hallway. Harry watched after the man for a little while, he had forgotten how much of a toll being a werewolf had on the man.

“I would keep a eye on that man,” Severus remarked softly from his elbow.

Harry turned to Severus to see his dark eyes watching Remus move off and the tension in the man’s shoulders.  He had also forgotten how the two men interacted.

“He seems nice enough.” Harry commented as they moved towards the dungeons, ignoring the looks they was getting from passing students. “Even if he is cursed.”

“Cursed?” Severus asked.

“Yeah,” Harry replied. “A dark curse; maybe a werewolf or some other kind of dark creature. They all kind of look the same without taking a closer look.”

“What do you see when you look at people?” Severus asked curiously.

“Not enough,” Harry replied with a laugh as he sidestepped the question.

Severus smirked as he showed Harry his rooms and where the lab and his rooms were as well as the potion classroom. Harry settled into his rooms, sitting in the armchair near the fire, his right leg stretched out on a stool with his bulky laptop computer. The headmaster had supplied him with a power cell to keep his muggle devices changed while he stayed at the school and Harry was thankful that he hadn’t had to bring his own.

He looked over his potion’s notes so he would be prepared when he would be working with Severus tomorrow evening. They both knew that they wouldn’t get much work done before the students left for the holidays but they had wanted to get started on the more hands on side of the potion. There had only been so much they had been able to do with Harry working away.

Harry was never a master at potions but he had a talent with working charms into them. He could also look at potions from a different direction than most people.  He also needed Severus’s help, for he was a potion master and knew how far he could go with a potion before something went wrong. Harry was good at coming up with ideas but Severus had the knowledge to know if it would work. Severus had talents he didn't and he was hoping that the two of them working together would lead to some break through with the Wolfsbane.

xXx

Blake peered into the potion before them, seated on a stool from Severus's classroom. Severus himself stood on the other side of the table as they both looked into the bronze cauldron. The brown liquid swirled around as it softly bubbled away. Blake frowned at the colour before he looked down at his notes.

“That didn’t work.” Severus muttered, as he placed his wand tip into the potion and gave it a swirl.

“Damn,” Blake cursed as he sat back on the seat and stretched his back.

It was well into Saturday night and they had been working on it since that morning with only small breaks for lunch and dinner. When a loud knock sounded at the door they both looked over.

“Enter,” Severus called.

Remus Lupin poked his head around the door.

“Severus, I was wondering- oh hello Blake.” Remus amened when he saw Blake.

“Come in,” Severus offered as he took a seat himself.

 Remus entered the lab and looked around at the cauldrons bubbling away around him and the ingredients spread out along the long table at the back of the room. His nose twitched at the smells as he moved into the room. He looked back at the two men to see Blake studying him, his pale green eyes focused and slightly intense.

It was still startling to see the man. He knew that he was related to James from what Ry had told him over the year, not to mention the fact that he'd had to have Potter blood for him to be able to take over custody of Ry so easily after his parents were killed. He had to admit that the Potter line was very strong in Blake and it reminded Remus of James and James's father. From how short that Blake cut his hair he was sure that he received the Potter curse of messy hair as well.

“Are you a werewolf?” Blake suddenly asked, startling Remus out of his thoughts.

“Ah, what?” Remus stuttered, while Severus smirked.

“You have a dark curse or creature around you,” Blake explained as he turned on the stool and rested his elbows on the bench behind him. “I was wondering if it was a werewolf or something else?”

Remus was taken aback, he'd never had someone be able to feel out the werewolf in him before. He could understand some of the stories that Ry had been telling him about his father as he looked the man over. Remus stood up straighter and looked the other man in the eye, those green eyes looking back at him in interest.

“Yes,” Remus admitted, trying to keep the nervousness out of his tone.

“Fantastic,” Blake said, clapping his hands and using his cane to get to his feet. “Do you mind sparing about an hour to help us out?”

Remus looked over to Severus but he was no help so he nodded slowly. Unsure about what the man may have in mind.

“I suppose,” The brown haired man agreed. “What would you have me do?”

“I just need to have a closer look at your curse,” Blake stated, like it was nothing.

He moved closer to Remus, slowly removing a black wand from a holster.  Severus causally cast a barrier spell between the two men and the potions so that no stray magic could leak into the delicate potions.

xXx

“Okay,” Harry said, once he was ready.

He raised the wand calmly and pointed it at the nervous man before him. He looked carefully at the darkness around the man before selecting the strand that he believed was the werewolf curse.

“ _Ipsum revelare_ ,” Harry whispered, sending the spell out towards Remus.

Suddenly the wand bucked in Harry’s hand. A rush of darkness shot out from Remus towards Harry with teeth and claws. Harry stumbled back, his bad leg buckling under him, as he quickly flicked his wand ending the spell so suddenly that his head spun. He landed heavily on his backside and felt slightly dazed.

“Blake!”

The other two men rushed over to him as he clutched his head.

“Ah,” Harry groaned. “A pain reliever would be welcomed, Severus?”

Harry heard the man leave the room but was surprised when Remus laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Remus asked, with concern in his voice. “What was that?”

“Yeah," Harry replied. "Just a headache and that was your curse. Wasn’t expecting the backlash. How long have you been a werewolf?”

“A long time,” Remus replied, uneasily. “Since I was a young child.”

Harry looked down at the black wand that he'd dropped when he had ended the spell. If he'd thought it through, he wouldn’t have used such a dark wand for revealing the curse. He'd been thinking, since it worked so well for the dark curse on the Flore house, that it would help this time. Severus moved back into the room and held out a potion and Harry's cane.

“Here,” Severus offered.

“Thanks,” Harry replied, taking both items.

He swallowed down the potion and slowly got to his feet, happy when the pain in his head eased off. Once he was standing again, he ignored the dark wand on the floor, as he hald out a piece of chalk to Severus.

“Could draw a circle on the floor a few meters wide, please?” Harry asked as he flicked the dark wand away with his foot so that Severus could draw the circle. “Remus can you stand in the middle of the circle, please?”

Remus stepped into the circle as he eyed the wand that Harry had kicked.  He had never seen a wizard kick his own wand so carelessly. Harry knelt down with the help of his cane and pulled his cherry wood wand and placed the tip to the chalk line. A barrier flared up green along the chalk line as Harry whispered the containment spell before settling down and going transparent.

“You have two wands?” Remus questioned.

Harry looked up at the man and smiled.

“The black wand is temperamental.” Harry replied.

Both men looked at him with confusion but didn't ask any more questions as Harry pulled himself to his feet and faced Remus. Harry raised the cherry wood wand and carefully cast the spell as he grabbed a hold of the dark strand of the curse. The darkness seeped out of Remus smoothly this time and formed itself into the shape of a wolf. The beast snarled at Harry and lunged but the circle kept it contained. The wolf prowled around the barrier of the spell as it eyed Harry off. He knew that it was looking for a weakness as it snarled silently.

“That,” Harry explained to the other wizards. “Is the curse of a werewolf.”

Remus looked wide-eyed and even Severus was speechless as they watched the pacing wolf. He was sure that they had never seen anything like it before.

“Can…can you remove it?” Remus asked softly as he ran his hand through the dark mist of the wolf.

“Nope,” Harry replied distracted as he studied the curse. “It's been a part of you for too long.”

The wolf stopped in front of Harry and bared its teeth as the other man knelt down to study it. Its eyes flashed brown, which was the only colour it had as it crouched down as if to lunge at Harry again but then thought better of it. Wizard and wolf looked each other over.

“It has a lot of anger,” Harry remarked then looked up at Remus. “Are you feeling angry?”

“No, just disappointed.” Remus answered.

“Severus could you grab my other wand?” Harry asked from his place in front of the barrier.

Severus picked up the dark and handed it over to Harry. Severus could count the number of times he’d had permission to hold another person’s wand on one hand. It was such a personal thing to a witch or wizard and yet the other man had said it so casually like it meant nothing to him.

Harry took the wand with a smile and a soft thanks. He held the dark wand in one hand and the cherry wand in the other before he focused on the curse. The wolf silently snarled at Harry as he looked into the curse. He could feel the darkness from the wolf but also a trace of light. Both types of magic bound together and tied into the man standing in the circle watching them.

The mist swirled around the shape of the wolf and Harry could feel the animal instincts brushing against his mind, even with the barrier separating them. Harry channelled the darkness with the dark wand taking notes of the curse before turning to the lighter side of the curse with the cherry wood wand. He was a little surprised to find a lighter aspect of the curse but it was there and it gave Harry hope. He took notes of the light curse with the cherry wand before ending the spell and breaking the circle on the ground. The wolf lost its shape as it puffed into mists, which rolled past Harry and disappeared.

“Okay,” Harry Exclaimed.

He used his cane to get to his feet, the world suddenly spun around him and Severus grabbed his shoulder to help him stay on his feet. Severus guided him to a seat and Harry sat down.

“Sorry,” Harry apologised. “Just got a bit dizzy there.”

“Are you okay?” Remus asked, in concern.

“Yeah,” Harry replied and waved the concern away. “I’ll be fine. Now, the curse, I’ll have to relook at the curse on the full moon-”

“You can’t be serious!” Severus cut in.

“Sorry, I mean I will have to look at the curse after you have taken the Wolfsbane potion next full moon.” Harry clarified. “I need to know what it does to the curse. There are two parts to it, which is intriguing.”

“Two parts?” Remus asked.

“Yes, there is a dark curse.” Harry answered. “Which I was expecting, but there is also a strand of another curse more light in nature.”

“What?” Remus asked in shock.

“Yeah, interesting isn’t it?” Harry said with a grin. 

He got excited over new things. He had never looked at the werewolf curse before and it didn’t disappoint. Remus had been dead and buried a long time before Harry knew enough to look into curses. He had looked at Teddy’s magic but hadn’t seen anything of the wolf in the man.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Severus remarked dryly.

Remus nodded in full agreement, which just made Harry give them a wide grin.

xXx

Harry was sprawled out in his armchair, reading a book, when someone banged on his door. Before he could call out, Severus barrelled into his room.

“What?” Harry asked as he pulled himself to his feet and snagged his two wands off the side table.

“Lupin,” Severus grasped. “He didn’t take his last Wolfsbane potion and I can't find him! It’s a full moon tonight!”

“Shit!” Harry cursed, he didn’t realise that tonight was the night. “Where would he go?”

“The Shrieking Shack, the entrance is under the Whomping Willow,” Severus replied quickly as he moved out of Harry’s rooms.

“You go ahead Severus,” Harry ordered, he knew he would only slow the man down. “I’ll catch up when I can.”

"Alright,” Severus agreed and went to run off.

“Severus,” Harry called after the younger man.  “Be careful!”

Severus nodded and with a last look disappeared down the hallway, his robes blowing around him. Harry moved as quickly as his leg would allow, cursing that bloody snake. By the time he made it out of the castle, he could see Severus in the distance making his way to the Whomping Willow. Harry cast a charm on his leg to numb it. He knew he would pay for it later but it allowed him to quicken his pace until he was almost running. He son was in danger and he wasn’t the only one.

He reached the Whomping Willow, breathing heavily as he got within reach of the tree.  He stopped it in place so he could slip down into the tunnel.

“Snape!”

Harry could hear the cry as he moved up into the Shrieking Shack. He rounded the door to find Sirius and Remus on one side of the room with Ron sprawled on the bed in the corner. Hermione stood next to Ry and Severus sneering at them all. When he moved into the room everyone looked in his direction.

“You!” Black yelled, startling everyone including Harry.

Harry looked just as surprised as everyone else as Black lunged at him and Harry quickly stepped to the side as Remus yelled out.

“Stop!” Ry yelled in the background.

Black turned on him again and with a snarl tackled Harry to the ground. Harry blocked the first punch but wasn’t so lucky with the second as it collided with his ribs. Suddenly hands grabbed Black from behind as Severus and Remus pulled the enraged man off him.

“Dad!” Ry cried, throwing himself down next to him.

“Dad?” Sirius gasped.

All the fight drained from Sirius as he sagged between Severus and Remus. Harry pulled himself to his feet and wrapped his arms around Ry.

“Do you remember me?” Harry asked, keeping his son close.

Black cocked his head to the side and said, “Yes, you were at Azkaban!”

“What?” Severus asked as he looked between Black and Harry.

“You took Harry away from me!” Black yelled.

“What?” Ry asked, looking up at his father.

“No, no.” Harry stated. “I came to see you at Azkaban. I tried to get your case reopened and a retrial called!”

“Ha!” Black barked. “That would mean I had a trial to begin with!”

“You did,” Harry insisted. “They had you sedated. You kept yelling about cursing and killing people.”

“I don’t remember,” Black whispered, shaking off the hands holding him back. “But you took Harry away from me!”

“No,” Harry snapped as he gently pushed Ry to the side and stepped forward. “I came to see you, to tell you that I was going to look after him. I'm a distant cousin to James, a Potter by blood but not name."

“No!" Black snarled as he shook his head. "You took him away and it’s all that rat’s fault!”

Black turned to Ron as he held a rat in his hands. Harry stared at that rat in growing horror, Ry had never mentioned that Ron had a rat and Harry wondered why he'd never asked.

“You can’t have him!” Ron yelled back.

“Ron,” Remus tried.

Suddenly the rat bit Ron’s hand and the boy let out a cry and dropped him.  Lupin flicked out his wand and with a flash of blue-white light a short pudgy man appeared in front of them, nose still twitching.

“Peter Pettigrew!” Severus gasped, looking down at the Death Eater in front of him.

“Severus,” Peter cried and crawled on his knees towards the dark-haired man.

Severus sneered down at the man in disgust.

“You worm,” Severus snarled. "Get away from me."

“Remus and Sirius.” Peter sobbed. Black kicked out at the man and he sprawled out on back with a cry. “I was your friend!”

“You gutless traitor!” Black snarled with a kick.

Pettigrew skittered back and looked from one unforgiving face to the next before his eyes settled on Harry.

“Please,” Pettigrew pleaded. “They want to kill me!”

“They are not alone,” Harry replied coldly and flicked his wand to tie the man up.  “We should move this back up to the castle? Before the moon rises, would be a good idea.”

Remus paled and they quickly moved out of the room. Remus lead the way with Pettigrew floating before him. Severus floated a sulking Ron with Hermione close by. Ry and Black came next with Harry taking the rear of the group as he limped along. Black would glance over his shoulder at Harry but he ignored it.

“You know, Harry.” Black stated, talking to Ry. “I’m still your godfather.”

Ry looked up at Sirius.

“I know,” Ry replied softly. "Dad told me."

Black’s eyes flicked back over at Harry and he gave him a wink. Black glared at him and Harry could see his fists clench before he turned back to Ry.

“If you wanted to,” Black whispered. “After I’m cleared, we could get to know each other. I could tell you about your father…your real father.”

Ry glanced over at Harry before he turned back to Sirius.

“I would like that. I would like to hear more stories about my parents.” Ry said softly.

Black’s face lit up with a smile. “You could even come to live with me.”

“What!” Ry squeaked.

“He's my son, Black.” Harry hissed at the man. “He will not be living with you.”

Sirius turned to glare at Harry as he bunched his hands back into fists at his side. He'd never been known for keeping his temper under control. With a hiss the man moved up to walk next to Remus. Ry looked up at his father and took his spare hand in his smaller one. Harry looked down into the green eyes of his son and gave him a smile back.

They all moved out into the late afternoon sun. They moved up towards the castle before Remus suddenly stiffened. Harry cursed as he noticed where the sun sat on the horizon, they were too late. Remus fell to the ground with a cry. Harry pulled Ry behind him as Pettigrew fell to the ground. Harry barely spared Peter a glance as the man transformed and disappeared into the grass. His eyes were locked on Remus in fear. Hermione rushed over to Ron as Severus lowered him to the ground and helped him to his feet.

“Run!” Black yelled.

He transformed into his dog form as Remus cried out only halfway through the transformation. Harry pulled his dark wand as he focused on the werewolf. With a howl Remus fully transformed and turned on Severus. Harry brought up a shield quickly between the werewolf and Severus just as Black crashed into the werewolf with a growl. Harry poured in the power into his shield as the two animals tangled. Snarls and growls sounded on the air.

“Severus!” Harry yelled, snapping the man out of his trance. “The children! I'll hold the shield.”

Severus nodded and ran over to Ron and Hermione. He quickly helped Hermione pull Ron to his feet. Harry held the shield and let it expand along the ground. Sirius was trying to push Remus away as Harry held tightly to Ry's hand.

“Get to the school!” Harry ordered.

Harry had to keep moving the charm as the two animals fought. He could bring up a full protection ward around them while they were moving. Suddenly Sirius grabbed Remus around the neck and pulled the wolf down. Remus kicked out before running with Sirius close on his heels. Ry pulled at his hand and Harry was pulled to the side. He cursed as his shield wobbled.

Suddenly a loud yelp sounded out on the air and Ry pulled hard. Harry tried to keep a hold of his son's hand but it put him off balance. Ry suddenly lashed out without warning and Harry lost his balance and grip on Ry's hand.

"Ry!" Harry snapped and tried to grab the boy

“Sirius!” Ry yelled and took off.

“Shit,” Harry cursed with wide eyes.

A coldness settled in his stomach as he locked eyes with Severus before he ran after his son. Severus could protect Ron and Hermione.

“Blake!” Severus yelled after him.

“Get back to the school!” Harry shouted back.

“Blake!”

Harry ignored the call as he rushed after his son, moving as fast as he could. He could see the dementors gathering at the lake and picked up speed. His heart pounding in his chest and his grip on his wand so tight he thought it would snap. He skidded down the slope and his heart froze as he saw a dementor crouched over Ry. Before he could cast a charm, a bright white light lit up the lake. A chill ran down his spine at the sight.

Prongs rode again that night as the patronus charged through the dementors. They scattered before the glowing animal as it circled around towards Ry. Harry stood rooted to the spot for a second with wide eyes.

Harry slid down the bank and landed hard on his right side before he scrambled over towards Ry. His heart in his throat as he fell to his knees before his son. He reached down with shaking hands and turned the boy over, he was so pale. Harry placed his fingers against the boy’s neck and sighed in relief when he felt a strong pulse under his fingers. He sat back on his heels as Albus Dumbledore and a couple of Ministry workers ran towards him.

“Is he?” Albus asked, his face pale and eyes wide.

“He’s okay,” Harry replied as he took the blanket Albus handed him.

He wrapped it around Ry as the Ministry workers handcuffed Sirius Black and floated him back to the castle. Dumbledore cast a floating charm on Ry and helped Harry back to his feet. Harry could already feel his leg screaming at him even through the numbing charm. Albus got under his arm and helped him back towards the castle.

“What happened?” Albus asked softly.

Harry grimaced.

“Sirius Black is innocent, Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper,” Harry explained dully. “Remus changed into a werewolf and Pettigrew got away. Remus is still out there somewhere.”

“Don’t worry, my boy.” Albus said and patted his back. “It will all work out.”

Harry nodded and leaned into the other man even more. Albus took his weight without protest.

“Blake!”

Harry looked up at Severus’s yell and smiled at the man already feeling exhausted. Albus gratefully handed Harry over to the younger man. The Headmaster turned to the front doors to the castle and quickly cast a spell on the doorway and it flared up in a shield.

“I have work to do and a Minister to yell at,” Albus remarked, as he patted Harry on the shoulder and quickly headed off.

“Are you okay?” Severus asked as he helped him limp towards the dungeons.

Harry snorted and said, “Don’t think I’ll be walking for a couple of days.”

“I’m sure, we can work something out.” Severus replied.

Harry could feel the numbing charm easing off on his leg as each step become harder. Severus took more of his weight and sweat broke out on his brow. He was relieved to see his door and was breathing heavily as Severus pushed open the door.

“Bedroom or lounge?” Severus asked.

“Bed,” Harry gasped, pain overtaking his every thought.

Severus moved him towards the bedroom and gently eased him down. Harry groaned embarrassingly as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Severus told him, before he moved out of the room.

Harry eased his shoes off and sprawled out over the bed, arm over his eyes to block out the light. Damn leg, Harry cursed silently. The pain raced up and down his leg and hip, but at least his son was safe. No one had been killed, so he would chalk that up as a win.

“Here.”

Harry started at the voice and looked up at Severus, squinting through the haze of pain and light. He took the potion Severus held out to him and emptied it without looking then took the next potion.

“Thanks,” Harry slurred as his eyes started to shut.

Severus looked down at the sprawled out man before him on the bed as the potions sent him to sleep.  He couldn’t believe how far the man had gone for his son and yet wasn’t surprised at the same time. It made him think of the cold block of ice that was his own father had been. Nothing he did had been good enough for the man.

He shook his head and gently lowered Blake’s jeans down to expose the mess of the muscles of the man’s right leg. He took a jar of balm from his robes and gently worked the cream into the man’s leg. He hoped that it would help the man on the bed. He removed the jeans completely and placed them on the ground next the bedside table, then removed the man’s jacket. He covered him up with the blanket, ignoring the scaring down the man’s arms and his well-toned body. It was at that point that Severus knew he was lost to this man and quickly placed the jar on the bedside table with a couple of other vials and left the room.

xXx

Harry woke slowly the next morning, stiff and sore, but surprisingly not in as much pain as he expected. He slowly rolled over and pulled himself into a sitting position. He reached out and snagged up a piece of paper and a pen from the bedside table.

‘ _Ry,_

_Please come and see me after you leave the hospital wing. I am sorry but I can’t make the trip up to the hospital wing at this time._

_Love, Dad.’_

“Hogwarts house elf,” Harry called and folded the note in half.

A small elf appeared in front of Harry and squeaked, “What can Softy do for you sir?”

“Can you deliver this to Harry Potter in the hospital wing, please?” Harry asked and handed the letter to the small elf.

“Yes, sir.” The elf said with nod and disappeared.

Harry sighed and downed the vial of pain potion. He looked at the balm that Severus had left on the bedside table for a couple of minutes before he moved to the shower. Once he was dressed and had a coffee in hand, he made his way to the small dinning table.

It seemed like everything was moving so fast. If events kept going the way they were Voldemort would be reborn in about a year and the whole wizarding world would be in danger once more. Harry had dealt with that once before and wasn’t keen to do it once again and yet he knew that Voldemort would rise again. If he didn’t use Ry’s blood then he would find another way to do it.

Harry knew his love of Ry was stopping him from looking at this objectively, but damn it, this was his son! He had raised the boy from one year old. He had taught him how to ride a bike and held him as he cried. Cleared up his first scrape and sat next to him at the Doctor’s office when the boy had fallen out of his first tree. This was his boy and he wasn’t going to let some ghost of a Dark Lord take him.

“Come in,” Harry called at the knock at him door, expecting Ry.

“How are you feeling?” Severus questioned softly as he came in.

“A lot better,” Harry replied and sat back in his chair with a heat pack held to his leg. “Thanks for the balm, something new?”

Severus came in to sit at the table, Harry frowned at the tense way that Severus sat and the slightly wary look in the man's eyes. He was unsure what the look was about.

“Yes, a new kind of muscle relaxant." Severus answered. "Did it work?”

“Yes, very well.” Harry smiled, if it hadn’t been for the balm he probably wouldn’t have made it to the table today. "Thank you."

“The Headmaster wanted me to tell you that Ry is recovering well and should be released from the hospital wing this afternoon.” Severus told him. “Also that Sirius Black managed to escape from Ministry custody and is back on the run.”

Harry smiled at the look of disgust on the younger man’s face.

“He also said that he wanted to talk to you about a contract once you are back on your feet,” Severus added.

Harry raised an eyebrow in question but Severus couldn’t give him any more information. Severus got to his feet and asked if he wanted another coffee. Harry looked Severus over as he made the coffees.

"What?" Severus questioned as he moved back to the table and placed the coffees down.

"Nothing," Harry replied and smiled at the frown on Severus's face. "I suppose that that new wolfsbane is even more important now."

Severus gave him a glare and Harry smirked as he sipped on the coffee. They moved onto small talk as Harry settled back into his seat. The events of last night settling around them and they let it slide away. It could have gone very wrong but it hadn’t and they were both still alive so Harry definitely counted that as a win.

xXx

A soft knock at his door startled Harry out of a light sleep in the armchair near the fire.

“Come in,” Harry called.

Ry poked his head around the door looking very sheepish.

“Hi, Dad.” Ry said sheepishly.

“Come in Ry,” Harry called with a smile. “Take a seat.”

Ry perched on the edge of the seat and looked down at the floor.

“I am very proud of you,” Harry started and Ry’s head snapped up, his green eyes wide. “You were very brave, stupid as well, but brave.”

“But Dad-“

“No, listen to me.” Harry said sternly. “You should have told a teacher or even come to me with this before running out into the night. You knew who Black was, Harry. I told you that he was dangerous and you knew that Remus was a werewolf."

Ry hung him head. “It happened so quick.”

“Yes, it did.” Harry agreed.

“And then,” Ry continued. “Dumbledore saw us in the hospital wing and said something about time and then Hermione had a time turner and we saved Buckbeak and then Sirius and then he was flying away.”

Harry sat back while the words just tumbled from his son’s mouth.

“I’m Sorry,” Ry finished, looking at his father.

Harry reached out and placed a hand on the teenager’s knee.

“It’s okay Ry,” Harry soothed. “Just remember that something really bad could have happened. One of your friends or teachers could have been killed or Black could have harmed you in his madness. Next time, just think it through before you rush into something. Try not to be so much of a Gryffindor.”

“Okay,” Ry said softly with a quirk to his lips. “Thank you.”

“Now, how are your studies going?”

The boy groaned.

xXx

“I would like you to teach an advanced Charms and Curses class,” Albus asked as he placed a cup of tea in front of Harry. "You have been highly recommended by both the Ministry and Gringotts."

“What?” Harry asked stupidly.

Albus grinned at him, as he took a seat across the table from him in Harry’s rooms.

“I’ve been trying to get Professor Flitwick to teach an advanced class for years, but the man is stubborn.” Albus explained with a fond smile. “There are many students that would benefit from what you could teach them.”

“I wouldn’t be able to stay here the whole time,” Harry reminded the Headmaster. “I have a few contracts over the next twelve months.”

“That would be no problem,” The Headmaster assured Harry. “Whatever time you can spare would be enough. You wouldn't be a full Professor just on contract. You would be paid for the work you do on a monthly basis."

Harry thought it over.

“The Department of Mysteries has been asking me about who I could recommend.” Harry remarked.

“Do we have a deal then?” Albus asked. “Your fee would depend on the classes and how much time you are here, but I’m sure we can come to a agreement. The rooms you are staying in now would be part of the agreement as well as a classroom.”

“Okay,” Harry agreed, after a few minutes of thought. “It would be nice to see Ry on a more regular basis. I'll talk to the Ministry and my lawyer and we can draw up a contract."

“Then it’s settled,” Albus stated as he got to his feet and went to move to the door before he turned back to him. “Oh, by the way…the Triwizard Tournament is being held here next school year.”

Harry’s head hit the table, once the Headmaster was out the door, what had he just agreed to?


	3. Chapter Three

Harry looked down at the page in front of him in confusion. It wasn’t the fact it was written in Russian that was giving him trouble, it was the theory on time that the man was trying to explain. He just couldn’t wrap him mind around it. So, he was happy when a knock sounded on his door to distract him.

“Come in,” Harry called as he placed a marker in the book and closed it.

Remus poked his head around the door, the scratches on his face healing up quickly.

“Remus,” Harry greeted with a smile. “Come in.”

“Hi, Blake.” Remus greeted as he carefully moved into the room. “I wanted to apologise for what happened last week.”

Harry sat back in his chair and eyed the other man, he still looked sick and his face was pale.

“No need,” Harry replied. “Come on in and take a seat.”

Remus smiled at him and moved to one of the armchairs, looking around Harry’s rooms.

“Thank you,” Remus said. “I’ll only be staying for a couple more days.”

“Why?” Harry asked.  "The term doesn’t finish for another week?"

“It may have been leaked that I’m a werewolf,” Remus said softly, looking away.

Harry frowned, “Severus?”

“Possibly,” Remus conceded.

 “I still need to look at your curse on the full moon,” Harry reminded him casually.

Remus’s head shot up.

“What?” He uttered in shock, his eyes wide.

“Did you forget?” Harry asked casually, with a smile.

“No, it’s just with everything that happen…”

“What? You would think that I would just abandon my work on the new Wolfsbane potion?” Harry asked. “And the work that Severus has done?”

“Yes," Remus answered flatly.

Harry looked confused then huffed a laugh.

“I have dealt with things a lot darker than your curse, Remus Lupin.” Harry purred. “People that take great delight in torturing and the pain they can inflict on people. Dark curses that people willing take into themselves and some that are just animals that kill and rape at will. People twisted by the dark arts and carry out acts of violence on a whim.”

Remus grew pale at the words.

“You are not one of them,” Harry stated firmly. “You don’t let that curse harm anyone. You could have turned on any one of us that night.”

“That was Sirius,” Remus said in a small voice. "He stopped me from hurting anyone."

Harry smiled at him and Remus shifted uncomfortable.

“Really?” Harry questioned as he sat back in his seat.

“Yes.”

“You have seen the curse within you,” Harry stated, his eyes locked on the werewolf. “Do you think it would have stopped at a dog? Do you think Black would have been able to stop you? If you wanted the taste of blood in your mouth?”

“I don’t know,” Remus stuttered.

“If a new Wolfsbane potion could allow you to have a balance with your curse would you take that?”

Remus nodded slowly, unable to speak.

“Great,” Harry said. “In that case I want to see you next full moon?”

Remus seemed to think that over before nodding.

“Yes, thank you.” Remus whispered, hope blooming in him for the first time in a very long time.

“We might want to leave Severus behind this time,” Harry smirked with a wink.

Remus laughed. “Might be a good idea.”

xXx

 A week after the incident with Black found Harry at the Ministry of Magic. He passed over both his wands at the front desk to the surprise of the ministry worker before heading towards the Auror department.

He hated the Ministry and everything that it stood for, it was a miscarriage of justice from the moment that he walked into the entrance. To see the statue of the wizard standing proud with all the other magical creatures beneath him to the injustice of their legal system. Which was one of the main reasons that he didn't like to enter the Ministry through the main foyer.

Harry sneered at it all as he made his way towards the lifts and yet he knew he was a part of the place and that just frustrated him more. He knew times would change but that didn’t mean he had to like what they did now. He could only nudge them in the right direction.

“Can I help you?” A young blonde woman greeted him at the files section of the Auror department.

“Yes,” Harry replied. “I have new evidence in the Sirius Black case.”

The blonde smiled widely. “Of Course sir! Let me get the Auror in Charge.”

He hadn’t gotten this kind of reception the last few times that he'd come to address the Black case but at the same time Sirius had been locked away in Azkaban and as they say. ‘ _Out of sight, out of mind_.’ A tall black man came towards Harry with a smile on his face.

“Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt.” The man announced when he got close and held his hand out.

“Blake Sun,” Harry replied, taking the man’s hand.

“Nice to meet you,” Kingsley said happily. “Jane tells me you have some information about Sirius Black?”

“Yes,” Harry replied. “I have memories that I would like to add to his file that would prove him innocent.”

Jane gasped beside them as Kingsley’s smile froze.

“Would you like to do this in your office?” Harry asked politely.

xXx

Harry looked back down at the address on the piece of paper in his hand before knocking on the door of a small cottage. The forest around the house was thick and peaceful as small birds darted around in the late afternoon sun. He could understand why the werewolf would find this a comfortable place to live.

“Blake,” Remus said with a grin as he pulled the door open.

“Remus,” Harry greeted.

He gave the man’s hand a shake and moved into the cottage.  It was small, was the first thing that Harry thought as he moved through the door and into the main room. It did have a small fireplace to the left of the main door which kept it warm and a kitchenette to the right and two other doors which Harry was sure would lead to a bedroom and a bathroom.

“Cosy,” Harry remarked.

“Yeah,” Remus replied. “It was the only thing I was able to keep from my parents, since werewolves can’t inherent in the wizarding world, but they had this house titled in the muggle world. They couldn’t take it away. Would you like tea or coffee?”

“Whatever you are having is fine,” Harry answered. “The sun should be setting in about an hour. Do you have somewhere you transform?”

“I have a basement,” Remus replied as he worked in the kitchen. “When I take the Wolfsbane potion I just move around the forest.”

“Did you want me to keep sending you the Wolfsbane?” Harry asked, taking the mug Remus held out.

“That would be very nice,” Remus conceded. “But what can I do to repay you?”

“Oh, you will.” Harry laughed. “You're my guinea pig.”

“Ah,” Remus replied, unsure.

Harry winked at the other man.

“Did I not mention that?” Harry questioned innocently.

“Well, if I had known that.” Remus deadpanned.

Harry just laughed.

“I’ve reopened the Sirius Black’s case with Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt at the Ministry.” Harry announced calmly. “I used my memories of Peter Pettigrew, I requested the man's file as well.”

Remus looked shocked. “You did what?”

“I used my memories,” Harry repeated, looking confused. “You can take a picture of a memory to use in legal cases.”

“I didn’t know that,” Remus replied, looking interested.

“They don’t do it as much here in the UK but use it a lot in the States and other countries.”

“Like in a Pensieve?”

“Similar, we use a crystal to catch the memory which doesn’t fade from your mind.” Harry explained. “They take a transcript from it and that’s used in court. You can then produce a photo from the memory. Makes it better for abuse victims so that they only have to relive the torture once instead of every time they are need in court.”

"Ry mentioned that you are related to James?" Remus asked.

"I am," Harry replied. "My father's mother is from the Potter line. The goblins could give you a better family tree. It's just easier to say I'm a cousin."

Remus looked him over.

"I can see the Potter line," Remus remarked.

"Ha!" Harry barked with a smile. "You should see my hair if I grow it out."

"You got the Potter hair?" Remus asked with a smirk.

"Oh, yes." Harry replied. "It's a curse I tell you."

"James used to make it work," Remus said with a smile as he remembered the man. "His father had it worse. You do look a bit like James."

"Have you spoken to Ry about his father?" Harry asked in interest as he sat back in his chair.

"Yes," Remus replied. "I had a few more photos to add to his collection and I'm sure that Sirius will fill him in on more stories. Since, they worked as Aurors together for a while."

Remus's smile faded a little at the other man's name. They spoke quietly for a while after that before moving to the basement, which the access was from outside. Harry looked around the small space and the reinforced doors leading down. It was just a bare stone room with nothing else.

“You don’t keep anything down here?” Harry asked.

“No,” Remus replied. “If I use this room, it means I don’t have any Wolfsbane.”

“You don’t have Wolfsbane all the time?” Harry inquired and the other man wouldn't meet his eye.

“Not when I have to eat,” Remus retorted blandly.

Harry let that slide as he removed a piece of chalk from his pocket and drew a circle on the floor. Remus moved into the middle of it and Harry placed his wand to the circle, making it flared up green before going clear.

“Did you want me to leave the door open when I leave?” Harry asked.

“Yes, thanks.” Remus said then suddenly straightened up.  “It’s time.”

Harry leaned back against the wall and waited. Remus sat on the floor and closed his eyes before crying out, his back arching, as his fingers dug into the stone. Fur sprouted along his back and over his shoulders as he pulled out of his shirt and quickly slipped out of his jeans and pants. Harry turned away to give him some privacy.

He turned back as the crying turned into howling and looked into the flashing brown eyes of the werewolf and shivered. He forced himself away from the wall and moved towards the circle. The wolf growled at him, making Harry pause. Remus should be in control of the wolf, not that Remus looked much like a wolf.

The animal he'd turned into was longer limbed and human/wolf like to be called a true wolf. Harry frowned, he remembered the shape that Remus had taken on the last full moon. It had definitely been more wolf-like than human.

“Remus?” Harry uttered softly.

The werewolf flicked its ears and stopped growling as it looked the wizard over. Harry could see the eyes turn softer, almost more human like as they looked at him and took a sniff of the air as Harry moved closer. Harry could see Remus taking in his scent as those eyes watched him.

“I’m going to cast the spell now.” Harry announced as he pulled his cherry wand. “ _Ipsum Reelare_.”

The dark mist poured out of the werewolf as well as a soft light mixing together into the shape of a true wolf. The wolf stepped forward looking between Harry and Remus. Harry lowered himself to the floor in front of the circle and studied the wolf. Light and dark swirled together as the wolf sat and looked at him. He picked up the two strands of the curse with his mind and looked them over.

“ _Producat in Lucem_ ,” Harry whispered, light flowing out of his wand and across the barrier.

The wolf cocked its head as the light entered Remus. The werewolf's shape sharpened and colours started to come into the wolf’s coat, white, black and rusty brown. The werewolf howled as its shape changed and suddenly the human/wolf changed into a true wolf to reflect the curse Harry was seeing. His spell broke leaving Remus standing alone in the circle.

“Remus?” Harry asked.

The wolf looked up at him with the same eyes that Harry was used to seeing, his eyes clear for the first time.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked in concern.

The wolf nodded at him, shook all over before sitting back, panting slightly as he just watched Harry.

“I used a light spell to boost the light curse already there,” Harry explained. “I’ve taken recordings with my wand to look over later. Do you feel okay for me to drop the barrier spell?”

Remus nodded his head again. Harry slowly reached forward and broke the circle.

The wolf stretched before moving forward and bumped its head against Harry’s leg. Harry’s heart was beating a hundred miles a minute as the beast stepped passed him and into the night. Harry sighed and slowly got to his feet.

“I need a drink,” Harry announced to the bare room.

xXx

_‘Hey Severus,_

_Are you able to try the Wolfsbane potion in a glass cauldron?_

_Thanks, Blake’_

_‘Blake,_

_You owe me 50 Galleons, cracked before the willow bark could be added._

_Severus.’_

_‘Hey Severus,_

_Thanks for trying, what about a glass stirring rod?_

_Blake’_

_‘Blake,_

_That worked and I was able to add more steel needles before the willow bark, which would reduce the amount of Wolfsbane the werewolf would have to take. Can you add in a charm to extend the potion's life?_

_Severus.’_

_‘Hey Severus,_

_I should be able to.  I have a light spell I want to add at the end, we might be able to make a potion that someone would only have to take once a year!_

_Blake.’_

_‘Blake,_

_When you say light spell, there are a couple of ‘_ light ingredients’ _that we could use instead of a couple of_ ‘darker ingredients’ _we will try them once you are back at the school in a couple of weeks._

_Severus._

_‘Hey Severus,_

_Sounds great! See you then. The French ministry is driving me crazy here. They just won't see sense. I'm sure they will be happy to see me leave._

_Blake.’_

xXx

“Dad!”

Harry put the pen he had been using back on the table and placed a marker on the page in his book. Ry barrelled into the house with a letter in his hand.

“What is it, Ry?”

“Ron’s dad got tickets to the Quidditch world cup!” Ry cried, holding out the letter for Harry to take. “He has an extra ticket and Ron asked if I could go.”

Ry looked up at Harry, smiling widely, his green eyes pleading. Harry sighed, reading through the letter. He knew something had happened but wasn't sure what. He did remember the dark mark glowing in the sky, he would never forget that green glow.

“Please?” Ry pleaded, after Harry finished the letter.

“I have something for you,” Harry said, instead of giving an answer.

“What?” Ry asked, puzzled.

Harry got to his feet and limped into his bedroom before returning with a silver and black bracelet in his hand. He retook his seat and held the bracelet out to his son. Ry took it in his hand, knowing his father, it wouldn’t just be a bracelet.

“What is it?” Ry asked. “It’s beautiful.”

“Only you can put it on or take it off and it will simply tell me if you are in danger,” Harry replied, he'd put a lot of time and work into making the bracelet to make it right. “It will also tell me where you are. I would like you to wear it and I will only use the tracking in it if it tells me that you are in trouble. I tried to add in protection spells but they just wouldn't stick.”

“Wow,” Ry gasped looking down at the bracelet. “Thanks Dad.”

“I will contact Ron’s Dad about you going along to the Quidditch.”

"Thank you!" Ry cried and hugged his father.

Ry grinned and placed the bracelet around his wrist which shrunk to fit comfortably.

xXx

Harry looked down at the potion’s text in front of him with a frown.

“What does this mean?” Harry asked Severus turning the text around to show the other man.

Harry was back at the school after dropping Ry off at the Weasleys a week ago. Severus and him had been working on the list of healing potions for St Mungo's hospital. They were taking a break while one of the potions shimmered for the next two hours before it could be finished and bottled. Harry had been surprised how easily they worked together, he was sure they would trip over each other but that hadn't been the case.

Severus looked down at the book he held out and read the line Harry was pointing out. He flicked the book closed and looked at the author.

“An idiot,” Severus remarked. “You don’t cut up arrowroot with a silver knife for that kind of potion.”

“Good to know." Harry remarked with a laugh. "Anything worth reading in this?”

“Not in this one,” Severus noted. “Try Silva Cannon instead.”

“Will do,” Harry replied as he set the text to the side.

Suddenly he felt something wrong and frowned. He pulled his cherry wood wand and looked down at it, feeling out the wrongness, it was the bracelet he had given Ry.

“Is it the Quidditch World Cup Day?” Harry asked, looking up at the other man.

“I think so,” Severus said slowly. “Why?”

“The bracelet I gave Ry, it's indicating that he is in trouble.” Harry stated as he moved to his feet. “I better go.”

“Do you need back up?” Severus asked as they moved through the castle.

“Should be okay,” Harry replied as they came to the Hogwarts’s front gate. “How much trouble can one boy get into?”

Severus snorted. “It’s Harry Potter.”

Harry grinned, disaparated and arrived in chaos. Tents were being whipped about everywhere as a family of muggles were being held in the air above a group of people marching towards the tents. Harry could already see Ministry workers moving in on the crowd. Harry ignored everyone around him and pulled his cherry wand and cast a spell on the hovering family.

They stopped spinning in the air as Harry sliced through the spells from the crowd below. He cast a protection charm around the family and he pulled them closer before he looked around for a safe place to put them. Aurors finally flooded into the crowd as Harry brought the family close together and brought them down in the cleared area around him.

“Blake!”

Harry turned to see Kingsley running towards him with his wand out and eyes wide in the dancing lights around them. The man made an intimidating figure as people parted around him.

“They're safe,” Harry quickly said. “I’ve placed a protection charm around them, nothing will get through it. I have to go, my son is here!”

“Go,” Kingsley yelled out, as he got closer. “I’ll watch them.”

Harry nodded and rushed off into the forest, following the charm in Ry’s bracelet. Cursing as people appeared and disappeared around him. The Ministry would have it under control soon enough. He cast a quick light spell so he could see better where he was going as he hurried through the forest.

Suddenly the Dark Mark lit up the sky ahead of him. Bathing the night in a green glow as screams erupted around him. Harry shivered at the sight but didn’t miss a step. He skidded into a slight clearing to see Ry, Ron and Hermione staring up at the grinning skull.

“ _Praesidio_!” Harry yelled quickly.

Hermione and Ron turned their wands on Harry before they recognized him and lowered them quickly. Suddenly twenty wizards appeared around them.

“ _STUPEFY_!” Twenty voices yelled a the same time that Ry yelled “DUCK!” 

Harry just stood calmly, his cherry wand in his hand as he fed the protection charm around him and the children. The spells bashed into the barrier around them as Harry poured the power in and the charm flared.

"You bloody idiots," Harry snapped at the same time that Arthur yelled. “Stop! Stop, that’s my son!”

Harry held the charm as Arthur Weasley emerged from the crowd. He could feel the stunning spells curling around and into the night. All the spells stopped and Harry breathed a sigh of relief, without a proper grounding, the spell had more of the chance of breaking. He held his wand at his side as he glared around at the men and woman and some looked away.

“Ron, Hermione, Ry are you okay?” Arthur questioned. “Blake what are you doing here?”

“Out of the way!” Crouch yelled striding forward and eyed Harry off. “Who did this!”

Crouch pointed a finger at the hovering Dark Mark while the children moved closer to Harry.

“Dad didn’t do this!” Ry shouted back. “I heard someone over there!”

“Yeah,” Hermione pipped up. “They said a spell or something and that appeared.”  Pointing up at the skull.

Harry looked up at the Dark Mark again still feeling the shiver down his spine even after all this time as people shifted around them. The sight still brought fear and a chill and a hardness came into Harry's eyes before he focused back on Crouch.

“A likely story,” Crouch said tensely.

“Believe what you want Mr Crouch, but my son and his friends are innocent,” Harry stated as he stepped forward until he touched the edge of his protection charm. “And I have worked with at least four of the wizards and three of the witches gathered around you. I am sure one of them can vouch for me. Since, you have forgotten who I am.”

Harry smiled as Crouch’s face turned red. Amos Diggory nodded to Harry and moved off in the direction that Hermione had pointed earlier.

“I have something,” The man called as he moved back to the waiting wizards and witches, a limp house elf in his arms.

“Winky,” Hermione gasped.

“A house elf?” Harry asked in puzzlement.

“Mr Crouch’s house elf.” Hermione hissed.

“Is this true?” Harry asked, looking at the limp figure. "That is interesting."

“Well,” Crouch stuttered, looking pale.

“She was holding this as well,” Amos said, holding up a wand.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Ry cried out, taking a step forward but Harry placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder and pulled him back behind him.

“What!” Amos yelped. “So you cast the Dark Mark!”

Harry’s eyes flashed green and a few people shifted. His temper was well known, if someone pushed him.

“That is my son you are talking about!” Harry hissed in a deadly voice.

“Ah,” Amos, backtracked. “Sorry, got carried away. Couldn’t have been your son, Blake.”

“I’m glad we have cleared that up,” Harry hissed, glaring at the people gathered.

Harry held his wand up and the Dark Mark exploded above them into sparks of green light as he broke through the spell. He whispered spell and light flooded the clearing. He cancelled the protection spell and stepped towards Amos.

“If you can give me my son’s wand, Mr Diggory." Harry said sharply, holding his hand out. "Mr Weasley and myself can take the children away while you investigate. I'm sure that Auror Shacklebolt will have questions for me and paperwork to fill out."

Amos hesitated before he handed the wand over while Crouch splattered. Harry looked over at the man and he shifted. The Ministry still didn't know what to make of him. Harry twisted his lips up in a lopsided smile and Crouch shivered.

“But-" Crouch finally got out.

“It is late, Mr Crouch.” Harry said flatly. “I am taking my son, his friends and helping Arthur round up the rest of the Weasley family before Kingsley finds me. If you have any questions I will be around to answer them later.”

The Ministry workers moved out of his way as Harry limped towards them. Mr Weasley quickly hugged his son before moving after him. Harry could hear Amos and Crouch arguing quietly as they moved back towards the campground. He was sure they would find him later.

“How did you get here, Blake?” Arthur asked, once they were out of earshot of anyone.

“Ry has a bracelet that I can trace if he's in trouble,” Harry explained, smiling down at his son. “Here, Ry.”

Harry handed Ry’s wand back to him as the boy grinned up at him. He ruffled Ry's hair as he groaned and whacked his hand.

“What will happen to Winky?” Hermione asked, looking over her shoulder.

“She was found with a wand and the Dark Mark hovering in the air, Ms Granger.” Harry replied softly. “It doesn’t look good.”

“Why?”

“Magical creatures are not allowed to use a wand,” Arthur replied.

“But she could have just picked it up!” Hermione cried.

Harry shook his head.

“The law forbids non human’s from using a wand…well, most non-humans.” Harry amended.

“What!” Hermione yelped. “That’s not fair!”

“I agree,” Harry nodded. “However at this time, that is the law. That however doesn't leave them helpless. House elves had strong magic even without a wand-"

“Dad!”

Harry looked around but it wasn’t for him this time. The rest of the red headed mob surrounded them, making Harry, Ry and Hermione feel like the odd ones out.

“Blake!”

Harry looked over at Kingsley.

“We need you over here and I need a statement,” Kingsley called as he made his way over.

“Can you look after Ry?” Harry asked Arthur.

“Of, course.” Arthur grinned.

Harry gave Ry a hug then held the boy at arm’s length.

“Look after Arthur for me, Ry.” Harry said with a grin.

“I will,” Ry agreed. “Can I stay with them until school starts?”

Harry looked over at Arthur, who nodded.

“Okay, but no flying car."

xXx

It was the early hours of the morning by the time Harry had answered all the questions thrown at him and had made his way back to Hogwarts. He limped slowly up towards the school as the light touched the horizon.  He stopped for a few minutes before ploughing on towards the castle doors and the dungeons. Cursing the Ministry the whole way, he was sure that he hadn't heard the end of the events of tonight.

He opened his door to find Severus sprawled out across his lounge.  The man must have fallen asleep while waiting for him to return. He looked down at the taller man, he looked softer somehow in his sleep. His black hair framed his face, from where it had escaped his hair band, against his pale skin.  There was a book on the floor next to the lounge that Severus must have been reading before he fell asleep.

Harry flicked on the kettle and pulled two cups out of the cupboard and put the right amount of sugar and coffee in both cups while he waited. He looked over at Severus again as the man shifted in his sleep and had to smile. This man was so much different to the Professor that had hated him. He still had the same greasy hair and pale skin but wasn’t as hardened and sour as the Snape he remembered. It’s funny how a child’s mind was so much different to an adult’s mind when looking at events.

He knew that Ry and Severus didn’t get on very well, but they both seem to try for his sake, which he was grateful for. He knew they would never be friends, but they could make it work. The clicking of the kettle had Harry turning back and filling the cups up with hot water and topped off with milk. He placed one cup on the coffee table in front of Severus.

“Severus,” Harry whispered, grasping the man’s shoulder.

The man snorted before waking, looking up at Harry through his hair.

“Hey,” Harry said softly as he stepped back

He took a seat in his armchair, enjoying the warmth of the fire next to him.

“Hey,” Severus replied, pulling himself into a sitting position.

“Coffee's in front of you,” Harry reported as he gestured to the cup.

“Thanks.” Severus replied. “What happened?”

“Some Death Eaters gate crashed the camping grounds at the Quidditch Cup,” Harry said calmly, noticing how Severus’s hands clenched around the cup. “One of the idiots cast the Dark Mark into the sky with Ry’s wand.”

“What!” Severus yelped.

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, taking a sip of coffee.  “Ministry came in wands blazing. The idiots that they are.”

“Potter okay?”

“Yep, managed to stop the twenty or so stunning spells from hurting him, Ron and Hermione.” Harry explained. “Bloody pack of idiots when it comes to Death Eaters.”

Severus placed the cup down before he could spill it as he looked at Harry with unreadable black eyes. Harry could pick up on his body language and could tell that Severus watched him just as sharply. They had reached am impasse, something that had been between them but they had never spoken of.

“I can understand their overkill,” Severus muttered.

Harry nodded and questioned, “You must have only been young when the first war started?”

“I don’t like to talk about it,” Severus replied, not meeting Harry’s eye.

“Because you were a Death Eater?” Harry asked mildly, taking a sip of his coffee.

Severus shot to his feet. “How?”

“Sit down,” Harry said calmly, sitting back in his chair.

Severus just stared at him.

“Severus, please sit.”

Snape slowly sat back down, sitting on the edge of his seat.

“How?” Severus questioned again.

Harry pointed at his arm and said calmly, “Dark curse.”

Severus relaxed. If he could see the dark curse then the man had known the minute that he met Severus that he was a Death Eater.

“I wasn’t here for the war,” Harry lied.  “I was helping the Germans clean up after the last Dark Lord, I wasn’t too sure what was happening over here in England until the goblins contacted me about James being killed.”

They fell into silence and Harry left it up to Severus about what he would say. What he wanted to tell him.

“I was recruited before I even finished school,” Severus said softly. “My father…my father was a bastard.”

Harry let the other man gather his thoughts, sipping on his coffee.

“My mother was a witch,” Severus continued. “My father killed her so I killed him.”

Harry’s eyes widened, he hadn’t heard this before.

“He was my first kill, the blood hadn’t even dried on my hands…When I turned up at Albus Dumbledore’s door step.” Severus said hollowly. “I begged him to help me, that I would do anything.”

Harry swallowed the bile in his throat. Yes, he had killed people and he had no doubt that he would again but the thought of a child killing his own father after the man had killed his mother turned his stomach.

“I offered to spy for him,” Severus whispered.

Harry sat forward in his chair and placed his smaller hand on Severus’s knee. Snape looked up at him and gave him a soft smile. Harry was sure that the man hadn't told many people his story before and gave the man a soft smile as their eyes locked.

“You were a child,” Harry stated softly. “The stupid things I did as a child could fill this room.”

Severus nodded and moved his hand until it was covering Harry’s. He gave Harry a nod of thanks.

Harry yawned suddenly which had Severus snorting.

“Sorry, long night.” Harry replied, sitting back in his seat and finishing the coffee.

Severus moved to his feet and looked down at him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Severus said. “Good night, Blake.”

“More like good morning, Severus.” Harry retorted with a grin.

Severus gave him a smile and gasped his shoulder as he passed him on his way out of the room.

xXx

Harry sat back in his seat at the Head Table next to Severus as Albus read out the last name of the competitors for the Triwizard Cup. He ignored the glare from Moody further down the table as he looked out on all the students. The old bear of an Auror had already made his point clear on his dislike of Harry and he had made sure that the man knew that the feeling was mutual.

Albus turned away from the cup when it suddenly lit up with green light and puffed out another name. The Hall went silent around them. Albus reached forward and snagged the piece of paper out of the air in surprise. He looked down through his half-moon glasses at the piece of paper. His blue eyes flicked up to the Head Table briefly and Harry could feel the coldness in his stomach. He glared down the table at Moody and the man gave him a twisted smile.

“Harry Potter,” Dumbledore called out.

Silence greeted him, until a hollow bang of Mr Blake Sun’s head hit the table. A couple of students giggled. Ry just looked shocked as his eyes flicked between his father and the Headmaster.

“Mr Potter,” Dumbledore called again. “Please make your way to the side room with the other competitors, please.”

Ry made it to his feet shakily before moving towards the side room as whispers erupted around the room. He glanced up at his father but the man still had his head on the table and Snape just smirked at him from beside his father. Ry quickly looked away as he made his way to the room the Headmaster gestured to. 

“Ah, crap.” Harry cursed, making Severus snort and clap a hand to his shoulder.

Ry's name coming out of the Cup was a binding contract. His son was now a part of the game and there was nothing he could do about it.

xXx

Harry threw down his pen in frustration as the yells echoed down the hallway to his rooms. He'd had enough! He normally liked the quiet sounds of the students but not today. Today, they just grated on him as he tried to get his work done.

He limped out of his room, the volume increasing as he headed towards the potion’s classroom. He just knew what he would see. The fourth year Gryffindor and Slytherin class were waiting outside the classroom. One house on one side of the hallway and the other house on the other side with his son and Draco Malfoy facing off, wands drawn.

Harry slammed down his cane, forcing his magic into the stones, a loud crack like a gunshot echoed down the hallway. All the students froze.

“Enough!” Harry hissed as he limped closer. “I don’t care what this is about but the noise in this hallway is unacceptable!”

Ry went to say something and Harry cut him off with a glare.

“You will stand outside this classroom and wait quietly for Professor Snape to let you in,” Harry stated sternly before he looked at the smirking Severus in the doorway briefly. “Or I will charm this hallway with a silencing spell, understand?”

Murmurs of agreement filled the corridor.

“These children are your responsibility,” Harry stated turning to Severus. “Deal with them.”

The Slytherins waited for Snape to snap back at the other man, but it didn’t come. Severus gave Harry a smirk before he looked the students over with a dark look.

“25 points from Gryffindor,” Severus drawled, hearing groans from one side of the hallway and snickers from the other side. “And 25 points from Slytherin. Sit at your seats and open your books to page 203 and start reading.”

The children filed into the room quietly and Severus shut the door behind them before turning to Harry. Severus gave him a smirk with a glint in his eyes.

“Keep this up and you will replace me for most feared teacher,” Severus drawled. "And I have held that record for some years now."

Harry snorted and gave him a wink.

“Can’t take that away from you, now can I?”

xXx

Harry was halfway through his class when his phone rang shrilly from the bench at the back of the room, a few students looked over in puzzlement. He picked the phone up and pulled the cord loose.

“Excuse me,” Harry muttered as he answered the phone. “Blake Sun.”

“Blake,” Conner Fritz's voice, from the German Ministry floated down the line.

“Hold on a sec,” Harry said into the phone and turned to the class. “Please excuse me for a couple of minutes. Please read through the next section of your books and we'll test the spell when I get back.”

The ten students gave him nods of agreement from where they were sprawled out on the floor of his classroom. He didn't normally work out of books but this spell needed ground work before practise.

“Sorry Conner. What can I help you with?” Harry asked as he walked out into the hallway.

“We found something you might be interested in,” The man explained excitedly. “Can you spare some time to have a look at it?”

“What would this thing be?” Harry questioned.

“It looks like a time rip,” Conner said.

Harry froze.

“I'll be there as soon as possible.  Don’t let anyone near it. Should I meet you at the Ministry?” Harry asked.

“Yes, yes.” Conner replied. “I shall see you then.”

Harry ended the call and just stood there for a couple of minutes. He sighed as he looked down at the charmed phone in his hand before he slipped it away in his pocket. He ran a hand over his head at the thought of a time rip before he moved back into his classroom.

xXx

“See,” Conner said excitingly, showing Harry the ripple in the air before them.

Harry looked at the brown haired man before turning to the rip. The soft glow of the edge of the rip stood out the most even in the sun, like a frame around the scene before him. He stepped up to it before he pulled his dark wand. He placed the tip close to the middle of the rip as he looked into the magic before him. He could feel the cold air on the other side of the divide. The rip was only small, not enough to step through but there was enough to see a street covered in snow on the other side. He could feel and see the time magic on the air. He wasn't sure if what he could see was the past or future but it was defiantly a time rip.

“Have you seen something like this before?” Conner questioned.

“Oh, yes.” Harry replied. “This one won’t last long, maybe a couple more days.”

“Really?” Conner said as he looked back at the ripple, blue eyes wide. “Can we do anything to hold it? Or widen it?”

“Nope,” Harry replied. “It’s just two times slightly touching.”

“Do you know what caused it?”

Harry shrugged in indifference.

“Could have been a big explosion of magic, a time event or just two times coming together where someone made a choice that changed history.” Harry explained. "If you are lucky, someone on the other side might talk to you."

“Can we touch it?” Conner asked stepping forward.

“I wouldn’t.” Harry stated turning to the taller man. “You can study it and look into the window while it’s open but I wouldn’t touch it or place anything through it. It should close itself in time. Thank you for calling me, it’s always interesting to look at this kind of magic.”

xXx

“Mr Malfoy?”

Draco turned to see Black Sun leaning on his cane in the hallway behind him. He smirked at the crippled man before moving back down the hallway towards him.

“Yes?” Draco asked, intentionally leaving out the sir at the end.

Sun looked down at him with pale green eyes.

“Please come with me,” Sun said calmly.

“But I have charms!” Draco whined.

“Yes,” Sun drawled. “I am aware of that and so is your Professor. Follow me, Mr Malfoy.”

Sun turned on his heels and Draco had no other option but to follow the limping man. Draco sneered even more.  What kind of wizard would allow himself to become crippled? He mustn’t be as good a curse breaker as he had heard to allow himself to get so injured that a mediwizard wouldn’t have been able to fix it.

“Please take a seat,” Sun commanded as he opened a door into a small office.

Draco took the seat on one side of the table while Blake sat down and looked him over. He shifted slightly under his piercing eyes, there was just something about Sun that put him on edge. Like he was seeing more than just what Draco wanted him to see. He sat up and carefully masked his face, he is a Malfoy after all. Sun just smirked at that look.

“Professor Flitwick came to me a couple of days ago, asking if I would teach you advanced Charms,” Sun explained, surprising Draco. “I contacted your father about it and he is happy for you to take the extra classes.”

Draco sat speechless, he didn’t think he was really that good at charms, potions yes, charms not so much.

“Severus mentioned how good you are at potions as well,” Blake continued, as if reading his mind. “I was considering teaching you how to combine the two together. Now, before you give me an answer. This is very advanced magic and as I tell my other students. My lessons will not be as regular as your normal classes. Would you be interested?”

“Can I think about it?” Draco answered.

“Of course.” Blake replied, with a smile. “Just tell Severus or myself the answer when you decide. If you wish to start it next year instead of this year. That is up to you.”

“You'll be here next year?” Draco asked in surprise, Sun didn't have many students and didn't spend much time at the school.

“Yes,” Blake replied. “You are free to go now, Mr Malfoy. You may join your class or have a free session.”

Draco thought about it for a few minutes before looking up at Sun. Those green eyes just watched him.

“Okay.” Draco announced.

Blake raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll take your lessons, sir.” Draco commented.

He'd heard whispers from his father and a few of the other students about Voldemort returning to power. He'd also heard his father mention Sun and the Ministry. If Voldemort was coming back then he had a feeling he would need all the help he could get, even if it was from a cripple.

“Fantastic,” Blake said happily. “I’ll get your timetable off Severus tonight, are there any times you don’t want extra lessons?”

“Ah,” Draco replied unsure. He'd never been asked that before from his teachers since they just normally assigned times. “I like Friday nights and Saturdays free.”

“No problems,” Blake replied and wrote that down in the book in front of him. “I’ll have Severus give you a time at breakfast for either that night or the next day. If that doesn’t suit you, just let him or myself know and I’ll change it to another time. Sound good to you?”

Draco looked surprised and was starting to think that Sun wasn’t like all his other teachers.

“No problems, Mr Sun.” Draco replied, looking the other man over.

“Perfect,” Blake exclaimed as he stood and moved to the door. “I’ll quickly show you the classroom you'll be meeting at.”

Draco followed the man a couple of doors down the hallway, where he opened the door. Draco was surprised to see a mostly empty room with just a long table at the back and a large bronze circle indented in the floor in the middle of the room.

“We'll do the charms side of the lessons here,” Blake explained. “The potions side will be done in the potions classroom, when it is free.”

“Okay,” Draco agreed, a little unsure.

“Have a good afternoon, Mr Malfoy.”

“You too, Mr Sun.”

xXx

Harry led a ragtag group of students away from the castle and across the lawn towards the Great Lake. He had students from every house in his group today from fourth year to seventh. Ry and Hermione were at his heels with a couple of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs and Draco and a couple of sixth year Slytherins at the rear. It was a clear Sunday afternoon and Harry didn’t normally have advanced classes on a Sunday but he needed the daylight for today’s class as he walked the class further from the castle.

“Where are we going, Dad?” Ry asked, looking around.

“As far from the castle without leaving the wards,” Harry replied, enjoying the sun on his back.

Harry led them into a clearing near the Great Lake and sat down on a boulder.

“Spread out and take a seat on the ground, please." Harry ordered. "Don't conjure anything to sit on."

Everyone took a seat with only a couple of grumbles. All of the students knew by now not to question Harry’s orders. Unless they had a good argument ready to go.

“Okay,” Harry said, making himself comfortable. “I want you to close your eyes and get comfortable.”

A few of the students looked around confused, before they complied.

“Okay,” Harry repeated. “This is either going to be a very boring or very interesting class for you all. I want you to calm your breathing and just relax. Try to focus on the air around you, the quiet, the birds or the ground beneath you.”

Harry watched the class as they settled in, some even laid on their backs on the grass or just sitting with their legs crossed. It was such a pleasant afternoon with a slight breeze to keep it cool with the sun beating down.

“There is magic around you all the time,” Harry said softly. “We tap into it via our wands and the core of magic within us. We use the words of a spell to focus our minds and our wands to channel it.”

Harry let that hang for a few minutes.

“We can also tap straight into the magic and pull on it,” Harry continued. “When we are working with charms and wards we are ‘picking’ up these strands of magic. To either strengthen them, add to the core of the magic already there or to add our own spells to the mix.  Now, I want you to focus on the ground beneath you.”

Harry pulled his cherry wand and placed it against the boulder he was sitting on. He slowly poured some of his magic into the ground. Ry and a couple of other students jolted at the feeling of the magic and Harry slowly turned the magic into a growing charm under the students.

“Just focus of the ground and open your mind to the feel of it, how the grass feels and how hard the earth is under it.” Harry suggested softly.

He watched as a couple of other students opened their eyes and looked around puzzlement. He took notice of which students could feel the magic and which couldn't.

“Can you feel the magic?” Harry asked, about half the class nodded.  “If you can’t, try and focus your mind. This kind of magic isn’t suited to everyone and can sometimes take a while to master.”

Harry could see Hermione’s eyes screwed up tight as she tried too hard. While Ry sat next to her and felt along the magic that Harry had sent out. Draco and a few out students felt the magic out and he was sure that a few had fallen asleep. Harry pulled back the magic from the grass, leaving it about two inches longer than it was before. A couple of students followed the magic back to Harry. He cut the magic off and a few students focused on him.

“Okay, you can open your eyes and wake Mr Stevens and Ms Dodson.” Harry remarked with a bit of amusement. “Can anyone tell me what the spell was that I cast?”

Hermione looked put out that she didn’t know the answer.  Draco raised his hand hesitantly.

“Yes, Mr Malfoy?”

“Um, a growing charm?” The blonde answered, unsure.

“Correct,” Harry said happily. “Could you feel anything else?”

Draco shook his head.

“Anyone else feel any other spells or charms?”

The students shook their heads and glanced around at each other.

“We have moved out here because of the wards on the school,” Harry explained. “If we were too close to the school, the wards would have made it harder to feel the magic.”

Hermione’s hand went straight up into the air.

“Ms Granger?” Harry asked.

“How far out do the wards for the school stretch?” Hermione questioned.

“Quite far,” Harry answered vaguely. “The founders laid down the wards when they started the school. Every student and teacher that have called this place home has fed into them.”

“So, there isn’t a boundary?”

“There is,” Harry answered. “But it depends on which wards you are talking about, each one is different and has a different range.  If you gave me some time I could probably tell you each one and where they stop, but we don’t have that kind of time. Now, I want the students that felt the magic to move to the right and the ones that had trouble please move to the left.”

Eight students, including Draco and Ry, moved to the right and the other fifteen students went to the left. Harry knew it would take time for the students to master this kind of magic. It was something that he was sure that they hadn't come across before. Most of the magic taught at Hogwarts was more about hand movement and the theory of the spell. He would be teaching the students a different way.

“Okay,” Harry instructed. “The students on the left please pair off, except for Ms Granger. Everyone on the right, except Mr Malfoy, please move to one of the pairs.”

Once all the students had worked themselves out into trios and Hermione and Draco had moved to his side, Harry nodded.

“Okay, I want one person to make a barrier charm and the other to use a stunner. The last person I want you to try and sense the magic in either spell.” Harry explained. “When the bell rings, I want you to change, okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

Harry pulled a small bell from his pocket and placed it on the boulder. He moved to his feet and took a couple of steps away.

“Mr Malfoy, please make a barrier charm.” Harry ordered.

Harry felt the charm go up a foot in front of the blonde. Harry liked Draco's spell work, he was always very precise and he would work hard to get a spell perfect. Severus reported that he was the same with his potions.

“Very good, Ms Granger please move towards Mr Malfoy with your hand out.” Harry instructed. “When you hit the barrier, run your hands over it and open your mind to see if you can feel the magic.”

Hermione moved forward until she touched the barrier. Draco smirked at her, which just made her glare at him.

“The hardest thing about feeling out magic is to tune out everything else.” Harry remarked, as he stepped back to the boulder and rang the bell.

“It just feels like a wall,” Hermione told him.

“Can’t you feel the magic, Granger?” Draco sneered.

Hermione glared back at him and put both hands onto the barrier. After a few more minutes, Hermione still looked frustrated.

“Okay, Mr Malfoy. Can drop the spell,” Harry sighed, ringing the bell again.

Draco smirked wider at Hermione, making her glare even more. Harry pulled his cherry ward and cast a barrier spell between the two students and they started. Draco placed his hand on the barrier as Harry poured more magic into it. The invisible barrier turned white then blue as it became more solid. Harry pushed more magic into it.

Hermione reached her hand out in wonder. Harry poured even more magic into the spell turning the barrier a green colour, almost the colour of the death spell. He stopped adding magic before it could crack from the strain.

“Can you feel the magic?” Harry asked softly.

“I think I can,” Hermione whispered. “It feels strange, like it wants to protect something.”

Harry smiled and let the spell drop.

“Very good, Ms Granger.” Harry congratulated.

“That was amazing,” Draco gasped.

Harry noticed that the other students had forgotten what they were doing and had been focused on Harry, Hermione and Draco.

“Okay, everyone.” Harry called. “I think we will call it a day. When you get some spare time, if you could practice sensing the magic. There are plenty of wards and charms in the castle and on the grounds to feel out. Write down what you feel and where you found the magic and I'll look the list over. The person that senses out the most spells by this time next week with get a box of chocolate frogs. No cheating, I will know. Have a good night everyone.”

Everyone moved back to the castle. Ry gave him a wave before moving off with Hermione.

“That was a interesting spell.”

Harry turned at Severus’s voice as the man moved towards him from near the forest.

“It was just a barrier charm,” Harry replied, with a shrug. “With way too much magic poured into it. If you need to put that much magic into that spell then you are in some deep trouble.”

“We were never taught to sense magic,” Severus remarked as he came to stand next to him. “Where did you learn it?”

“Japan,” Harry replied. “They don’t teach it much here in England.  They focus more on the spells but not the magic itself. The first time I saw someone ‘sense’ the magic of a curse I was blown away. It's the best way to work with wards.”

“I can understand that,” Severus agreed. “Can you cast the barrier charm again?”

“Sure,” Harry replied.

He brought the charm up again, a blue wall appeared next to them. Severus reached out a hand and touched it. Harry watched in amusement as Severus ran his hand along the barrier.

“It’s cold,” Severus stated.

“Yeah, it takes the water out of the air.” Harry replied.

“It’s not green?”

“What colour do you want?” Harry asked with a laugh. “I can do it most colours, except pink, don’t ask.”

Harry dialled it up to the green colour and held it there for Severus before dropping the spell.

“Was there something you wanted or did you just want a lesson?” Harry asked with a smirk.

“How about some dinner in Hogsmeade?” Severus asked.

“Sure,” Harry replied easily. “I could go for a beer.”

“Students do tend to make adults need alcohol.” Severus muttered with a smile.

“Ha, I can agree with that.” Harry replied with a wink.


	4. Chapter Four

BANG!

Harry started awake and was reaching for his wand before he saw Severus before him.  He flopped back into the armchair he'd fallen asleep in.

“What?” Harry slurred, not quite awake yet.

“Look,” Severus hissed and shoved his left arm towards Harry.

Harry’s hand froze halfway through running over his short hair to look at the Dark Mark on the man’s arm. It stood out dark on the man’s pale skin, like it had just freshly been tattooed. He ran the hand down his face before carefully taking Severus’s arm in his hand and turning it slightly, the head of the snake watching him.

“I’m going to need coffee,” Harry stated after a couple of minutes of silence. “And from the looks of it, so do you.”

Harry waved the taller man back as he stood and stretched his back. He limped over to the kitchen to turn the kettle on. Severus stood there looking pale as his dark eyes watched him carefully.

“Have a seat, Severus.” Harry remarked as the kettle boiled.  “How long has it been getting darker?”

“The last week,” Severus replied shortly.

“Is it as dark as it was when the Dark Lord was alive?”

“No, and the snake’s eyes used to be red.”

“So, he isn’t back?” Harry muttered.

“Do you think that’s what it means?” Severus uttered, looking pale and shaky.

Harry turned back to the other man and limped over to the lounge. He sat next to Severus and placed a mug in the other man's hands.

“Yes.” Harry said bluntly. “He's been trying to come back to power since Ry’s first year. When he tried to steal the philosopher's stone.”

Severus paled even more.

“How do you know that?” Severus snapped.

“My son is Harry Potter." Harry said with a smirk. "He told me what happened.”

He found it odd how Severus could forgot that Harry Potter and Blake Sun were connected. He would even forget the way that Blake was a Potter, even if they didn’t have the same last name. Harry looked very much like a Potter. He chalked it up to the man's hatred of James Potter which made him turn a blind eye to the fact.

“Yes," Severus sneered. “How could I have forgotten that.”

“Finish your coffee, then I’ll have a look at this Dark Mark." Harry said, ignoring Severus sarcasm. "Just curious, how do Death Eaters hide the mark?”

“There's a spell, Blake.” Severus drawled with a smirk. "It's tied into the mark."

Harry looked at him blankly for a second, then he laughed.

“We are wizards.” Harry said in mirth.

Severus sneered. “Did you forget that fact?”

"Sometimes," Harry remarked with a nod. “I was brought up as a muggle, I didn’t know I had magic until I was eleven. I made up for it later in my life.”

Severus looked at him curiously, the other man didn’t talk about his upbringing or much of his history really. Only that he had spent a lot of time abroad and had a faint accent that Severus couldn't place. He chalked it up to the fact that the man spoke many languages.

“That’s another life time ago,” Harry continued. “And a very boring story to tell. Okay let's go to my classroom and have a closer look at this branding of yours.”

xXx

Harry faced Severus across the bronze circle in the floor of his lab. He could tell the other man was nervous but at least the coffee had helped settle his nerves. Harry pulled out both his wands and looked down at them before he moved closer to Severus.

“Hold out your arm,” Harry requested.

Severus removed his outer robe and just stood in his slacks and a black shirt. He hesitated slightly before his eyes locked with Harry and he held his arm out. Harry brought the protection charm up around them with a thought as they stood within the bronze circle.

“Do you own any other coloured clothing?” Harry asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Only a very dark grey shirt,” Severus replied with a quirk to his lips.

Harry laughed and placed his dark wand back in its holster as he held his cherry wand. He carefully placed the tip of the wand against the mark on the man’s skin. He could feel the darkness of the spell but could also feel Severus’s own magic pulsing under it. He would have to sift through both of them to pick up the right strand.

Black mist slowly started to tumble out of the mark and crawl along the floor and the edges of the bronze circle. Harry worked his way through the layers of the spell. His head started to ache where he knew his curse scar used to be as he pushed further into the Dark Mark and deeper into the spell work.

CRACK!

Harry found himself lifted and thrown across the circle, his back painfully collided with the invisible barrier of the containment spell. He crumpled to the ground, boneless, as he heard his name cried out. He dizzily reached for his dark wood wand and pushed it into Severus’s hands as he felt the dark mist around him. The pressure in his head increasing.

“ _Finte_ ,” Harry gasped, trying to grab a hold of the dark curse.

“ _Finte_!”

The dark mist instantly disappeared as Severus cried out the spell. The wand bucked in his hand and he had to use two hands to hold it. How the other man could work with this wand he had no idea.

The pain in Harry’s head eased as the mist disappeared. He slowly built up the walls around his mind again, containing what was left of the dark curse.

“Wand Severus?” Harry croaked and held out his hand.

Severus happily gave the wand back.  Harry channelled the rest of the curse floating around the circle into the dark wood then into the stones at his feet to seep back into the earth harmlessly. Harry rolled onto his back as he broke the containment spell with a groan.

“What happened?” Severus asked, kneeling on the floor beside him.

Harry squinted up at Severus.

“It’s an incomplete spell, I was trying to look through the layers to see if I could find the source when it tried to latch onto me.” Harry explained, not even trying to move. “Without a link to the source the curse is unstable.”

 “So the Dark Lord hasn’t returned?” Severus questioned.

“No,” Harry replied shortly. “I could feel a power in the link but was thrown out too early to tell how far along he is.”

“So, he's coming back?”

“Yes,” Harry replied, without blunting his words. “The rebounding curse from when Ry was a child wasn’t enough to kill a man like the Dark Lord. Nothing was prepared or in place to catch his soul when it fled.”

“There was a prophecy.” Severus said slowly.

Harry uncovered his eyes. “What?”

“A prophecy was made,” Severus said softly. “I overheard it, then reported it to the Dark Lord. I didn’t know what it meant then, I do now.”

Harry slowly sat up so he was at eye level with Severus.

“A trip to the Department of Mysteries might be in order then,” Harry muttered.

Severus helped him to his feet. Harry stumbled into Severus's side as he got his feet under him. Severus held him until he could stand without landing on his ass again before he stepped back.

“They will just let you in?” Severus asked surprised.

“Of course.” Harry replied, like it was an every day thing that he would be let into a tightly restricted area. “I work down there, I have a contract with the Ministry.”

“Are there places you haven’t had a contract?” Severus muttered, darkly.

Harry barked a laugh.  “A couple, but I’m working on it”

xXx

Harry looked on nervously the day of the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. The only thing that calmed him down was the knowledge that the charms and wards he'd placed on the Quidditch pitch would stop his son from getting killed. But that only went so far and he couldn't stop his worry. Severus placed a hand on his knee to stop it bouncing and Harry grinned up at him sheepishly.

“Sorry,” Harry muttered.

“It will be okay,” Severus whispered to him, before a roar of a dragon rang out.

“I shouldn’t have come to watch,” Harry muttered as he rubbed his face. "I should have locked myself away somewhere in the castle with a silencing charm. Or better yet, just knocked myself out with a potion until it was over."

Severus laughed softly, ignoring it when the other man’s leg started to bounce again.

The crowd roared as the next dragon was brought into the converted pitch. Severus reached out and placed his hand on the other man’s knee to stop it from bouncing and left it there. Harry smiled over at him before turning back to the pitch as his son walked out and just stood there.

“He has a plan, right?” Severus hissed at him.

“Oh, yes.” Harry replied with a grin.

Suddenly Ry’s broom came flying out of the castle and towards the boy.

Severus groaned, “You have got to be kidding.”

“Nope,” Harry snickered as Ry took to the air.

Harry was left in awe as Ry ducked and dived around the huge beast. He hadn’t realised how much talent his son had with a broom under him until now. The dragon turned to throw fire at Ry, but the boy ducked at the last moment and Harry was sure he saw ash from the end of Ry’s broom in the air. Ry twisted around as the dragon’s head turned to keep up with him.

Suddenly Ry dived and the crowd held its breath as the boy dropped. At the very last minute, he pulled up on the broom inches from the ground as the dragon roared and stomped down.

“Oh, god.” Harry gasped with wide eyes.

Then Ry barrel rolled away from the dragon with something gold clutched in his arm.

“AND HE HAS THE EGG!”

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and rested his hand over Severus’s one on his knee.

“Thank god,” Harry muttered as tilted his head back against the seat as the crowd roared.

Severus looked down at their joined hands and felt something clench in his stomach. He wasn’t sure if the hand was intentional or if the man was just over come to see his son make it through the first task but he would take whatever he got. Suddenly the man looked at him and grinned, his green eyes shining.

“Just two more tasks left.” The dark haired man grinned. “I’m not sure my heart can take it.”

Severus laughed, neither man moved their hands away.

xXx

“Come in,” Harry called at the knock at the door, marking his page.

“Hey Dad,” Ry greeted, coming through the door.

“Hey Ry,” Harry grinned. “How are you?”

“Yeah, going well.” Ry said and looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. “I got a note from Sirius.”

Ry passed it over to his father.

_‘Be at the stile at the end of the road out of Hogsmeade at 2pm on Saturday. Bring food.’_

Harry frowned down at the note, he knew his evidence was still being looked over. That the Aurors that had been hunting down Black had been called off and all media pulled. As far as Harry was aware the case had been dropped but hadn’t been made official yet.

“I want to meet him,” Ry stated softly.

“Do you want me to come?” Harry asked as he passed the note back to the teen.

“Um, yeah.” Ry replied, slightly embarrassed.

“No problems, Ry.” Harry said with a smile as he ruffled the boy’s hair. “Did you want to have lunch before meeting him?”

“Yeah,” Ry agreed, grinning. “Thanks dad!”

“No, problems. Now, about your grade in potions and transfigurations.”

Ry groaned.

xXx

Father and son made their way out of Hogsmeade.  It was a beautiful day with the sun shinning and only a couple of clouds on the horizon to hint at rain to come. Harry was enjoying the walk after being cooped up in the castle for the last few weeks and was happy to be out and about. They made there way passed a couple of cottages as they walked towards the meeting place.

“I wonder what the price of one of these is?” Harry thought out loud.

“Don’t you have enough houses?” Ry whined.

Harry grinned down at his son.

“You can never have too many places to hide, Ry.” Harry said seriously but it was ruined by the grin. "Or rent out."

“Dad, why would you need to hide?”

Harry just winked at the boy.

“Because, I seem to find myself in trouble. Much like another Potter I know,” Harry replied lightly.

“Dad!" Ry complained. "It’s not my fault that people are out to get me!”

Harry laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair again. He was finding that he didn’t really have to reach as far to do that now, since the boy was almost as tall as him.

“Now where is this stile?” Harry asked Ry as he looked around.

“How about over there?” Ry remarked with a smirk as he pointed Sirius out in his dog form. “Maybe where that dog is?”

“Ah, yes.” Harry stated. "That gives it away."

The large black dog looked at them then growled at Harry before lopping off up the hill.

“Should we follow Lassie?” Harry asked.

Ry whacked him on the shoulder for his trouble which just made Harry grin in amusement.

“Lead on Timmy,” Harry joked, pushing Ry forward.

Ry smacked him again and led the way after Sirius. The dog led them further up the hill and into a small cave. Harry had to duck slightly to get into the cave. Suddenly he was slammed against the cave wall, dropping his cane in surprise.

“What are you doing here?” Black hissed in his face with his teeth barred.

“Because I asked him,” Ry said softly.

“Yeah, what the boy said.” Harry agreed, smiling at the fuming man.

Black looked at him in disgust as he pushed him further back into the wall.

“I can leave if you want,” Harry suggested.

“I suppose you’re better than Snape,” Black remarked, stepping back. “Better looking too.”

Ry gagged next to his father which made Harry grin.

“Why thanks,” Harry said dryly. “And I was starting to think you didn’t care.”

Black snarled and turned away from the two, striding away for a couple of minutes before moving back. He eyed off the backpack Ry had until the boy held it out. Sirius took it in his hands and pulled out a sandwich, digging in.

“There's a status charm on the bag,” Harry rambled. “And bottomless charm, not that it’s bottomless, just what it’s called. It’s hard for anything to be bottomless really-”

“Dad rambles when he's nervous,” Ry cut in.

“Um, yeah.” Harry agreed then held out a key and a piece of paper to Black.

“What’s this?” Black asked, taking the key and the note.

“It’s a key to one of the Potter houses,” Ry said excitedly. “Dad said you could stay there, while your case is being reviewed.”

“What? Reviewed?” Black coughed and was so shocked that he stopped eating.

“Yeah,” Ry continued. “Dad went to the Ministry with the memories of the night with Pettigrew and got your case reopened.”

“You what?” Black exclaimed as he turned to Harry.

“You're welcome,” Harry commented, with a smirk. “Merry Christmas and all that. Hasn’t been made official yet, but you should be getting a full pardon. They are just taking a long time to wrap their mind around the fact. Did Dumbledore not tell you?”

“No, no he didn’t.”

Harry frowned and said, “I thought he would have said something, but you have been ‘on the run’ so maybe the message didn’t get through.”

“Dad said you can stay at the Potter house until your pardon comes through and since he did the warding you should be safe from the Ministry.” Ry said, beaming.

“Thank you,” Black said. “Doesn’t mean I like you but thank you.”

“I’ll take it," Harry replied. "I’ll wait outside while you have your chat with Ry.”

Harry moved towards the cave entrance. He had to admit that it was harder than he would have thought to see the Sirius Black of this time. He had only known Sirius for such a short time and yet they had clicked so well from the moment they had met.  This man was so much different than the man he had known. He could understand that since this Sirius wasn’t his godfather. In fact, Harry was the man that took Harry Potter away from him but it still hurt.

This man still seemed to be struggling with the time he'd spent in Azkaban. Harry could tell it was going to take the man a long time to recover from what he'd been through. He knew from experience that Ry would be able to help him as long as Black could separate James Potter from Harry Potter.

Harry took a seat on a large rock out the front of the cave and took out his notebook to work on one of his projects while he waited. Suddenly Harry’s phone rang shrilly, startling him.

“Blake Sun,” Harry answered, looking at the math of one of his spells in his notebook.

“Hello, Mr Sun.” A cheery voice purred. “It’s Martha from files in the Department of Mysteries.”

“Martha!” Harry said cheerfully. “How are you, my dear?”

“Very well Blake, I have located that prophecy you were asking about.”

“You are fantastic,” Harry said with a grin. “I owe you one.”

“I think a fancy dinner out would make up for it.”

“I think I can manage that." Harry purred. "Did you want me to pick up the orb from the Department?”

“Yes, you can pick it up from my office.”

“Tomorrow good?”

“For dinner?” Martha asked

“Okay, hon." Harry answered with a laugh. "How about I come around on Friday then take you out to dinner?”

“Sounds great, Blake. See you at 6?”

“See you then, love.”

Harry hung up the phone then glanced over his shoulder to see Ry with a big grin on his face and Sirius frowning at him.

“Ah, yeah.” Harry stumbled over his words. “Forget you heard that.”

Ry laughed.

“All done?” Harry asked, quickly changing the subject.

“Yeah, we can go.” Ry replied.

Harry pulled himself to his feet and limped back up to Ry and Black. He held his hand out to Sirius.

“Until next time, Black.” Harry offered as Sirius took his hand. “Maybe next time we can skip the shoving me up against the wall?”

“Dad!” Ry yelped.

“We'll see,” Black replied but there was a quirk to his lips and a glint in his eyes. “Bye, Ry.”

“Bye, Sirius.” Ry said with a grin before taking the man in a hug, startling him.

xXx

Harry looked up from the glass sphere in his hands when Severus knocked and entered his living room. He placed the glass on the table when he saw Severus’s hard look.

“Ry said something, didn’t he?” Harry stated.

“He took great delight in telling me at his detention tonight.” Severus said coldly. "About your 'date'."

Harry grinned, but it didn’t reach his eyes. 

“I’m not surprised. What did he do to get the detention?” Harry asked.

“Two words: Potter. Malfoy.” Severus drawled as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“They'll learn to work together, maybe a couple of lessons together with me might help.”

“It’s your funeral.”

Severus looked down at the glass sphere on the table in front of Harry and froze.

“Is that?” Severus asked as he stared.

“It is.” Harry agreed as he picked up the sphere and held it out.

Severus took the sphere gently in his hand and glazed down at the prophecy swirled around inside it. He took a seat at the table as Harry looked him over.

“I met with a Martha Billings, who works in the file section of the Department,” Harry explained. “For the exchange of dinner, she was able to locate that for me.”

“So not a date?” Severus questioned carefully.

“Not a date.” Harry agreed, taking back the prophecy from Severus's hand.

Their eyes locked and Harry quirked a smile before giving him a wink.

“Are you going to watch it?” Severus questioned.

Harry looked down at the sphere and the gentle mists swirling in its depths. There was nothing to show what the sphere would reveal.

“No,” Harry whispered. “This isn’t about me, this is for Ry.”

“When will you give it to him?”

Harry sighed and ran a hand down his face.

“Maybe after the Cup,” Harry replied. “He's a little stressed at the moment and has mentioned a certain Professor giving him trouble.”

Severus just smirked at those words.

“Which reminds me,” Harry said suddenly as he slipped the glass sphere away in his jacket. “I wanted to ask you about us working with Mr Malfoy with a Blood purifying potion?”

xXx

Severus found himself at the edge of the maze the night of the third task, on watch for sparks in his section. The edge of the hedge was dark and Severus couldn’t work out why the Headmaster had chosen two tasks that most of the spectators wouldn’t even be able to see what was going on within them. He looked along the hedge, hearing yells and growls from the other side but no sparks. He would rather be in the stands with Blake then out in the dark.

He walked along the edge trying not to let his mind come up with what could be happening within the maze. Blake had told him he'd placed wards on the grounds, so at least the maze wouldn’t be claiming a life tonight but that didn’t ease his mind as much as he'd hopped.

Severus nodded as Mad-eye Moody moved towards him, fake eye focused on him and a hard look on his face. The man passed him and Severus sighed quietly, the man gave him the creeps. Not that he would mention that to anyone but he had noticed the look that Blake gave the retired Auror when he thought no one was watching.

“Is he gone?”

Severus jumped at Blake’s voice near him. Suddenly Blake’s head appeared in mid-air, since he was wearing Potter's cloak.

“Who?” Severus asked softly.

“Mad Eye,” Blake replied as he glacned around.

“Yes, he just passed by.”

“Great,” Blake said with a grin. “I have to look at the cup. It has been turned into a portkey but something isn’t right with the destination programmed into it.”

“Moody placed it in the middle of the maze before the task started."

“Yes,” Harry agreed. “It looked fine when it was in the Headmaster’s office but not when Moody took it into the maze. I need to look at it.”

Severus looked down at the shorter man and frowned. Blake was on edge and he felt a chill.

“And how are you going to do that? It’s in the maze.” Severus pointed out with a smirk.

Blake grinned at him widely before he flipped the hood of the cloak back up and disappeared.

“When the task is over I want you to tell Dumbledore that something is wrong with Mad Eye,” Blake’s voice came from mid air. “Something isn’t right tonight.”

Severus shivered, sometimes Blake could creep him out, not that he would tell the man that. Blake grabbed his arm suddenly, his grip like steel.

“Whatever happens tonight, Severus,” The man whispered close to his ear. “Do not answer his call and look out for Ry, okay?”

Severus nodded unable to speak as his heartbeat picked up at the man's words.  Blake squeezed his arm then let go. The hedge beside him parted to let someone through then closed again, leaving Severus alone once again with just the darkness around him for company.

xXx

Harry moved through the hedges of the maze as he made his way towards the magical signal of the portkey. That damn Moody had given him the slip with the cup and hadn’t changed the portkey until just before he entered the maze. He'd hopped to fix the portkey destination on the cup before the task but Dumbledore had kept it under lock and key and he hadn’t been able to get close enough to it. Damn them both!

The numbing charm on his leg allowed Harry to move with more speed and with Ry’s invisibility cloak he was able to bypass anything that would like to rip out his throat. He marvelled once again, how a school could even conceive that this was okay for children. The walls of the hedge parted before him as he cut his way through, the plants protesting every time. He had to make it towards the cup before his son and the Diggory boy got there.

He fell out of the last hedge to see Ry and Diggory looking down at the cup before they reached for the cup together.

“Ry!”

Harry lunged for his son, just as the two boys grabbed the cup. The world swirled around Harry as he tightened his hold on the cloak, he'd grabbed a hold of. The portkey spun them out in a familiar looking graveyard and he felt coldness shoot through him. The breath caught in his throat as ice curled around his heart. He knew that this night would come as he ran his plans through his head. Adapting them as he took in his surroundings.

“Dad?” Ry asked as he got to his feet

“Mr Sun?” Cedric asked looking around at the graveyard. “Where are we?”

Harry got to his feet as quickly as he could. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a marble and held it out to Cedric, who took it in puzzlement.

“Tell Dumbledore ‘Tom Riddle’,” Harry told the boy. “Understand?”

“Um, yes sir.” Cedric stuttered, looking puzzled.

“ _Home_ ,” Harry whispered and the boy disappeared.

“What's going on Dad?” Ry asked as he moved close to him.

Harry looked around with wide eyes he could feel the anti-apparation wards and how far out they stretched. The marble portkey he'd made could only take one person and Harry was kicking himself for not making more but it had been hard to make a gap in the wards around Hogwarts without the Headmaster’s permission.

“Dad?”

“I have to get you out of here,” Harry said as he gripped his son’s hand tightly and gabbed up the Cup in the other.

He could feel that the portkey in the Cup wasn’t ready yet and he quickly poured magic into it trying to speed it up. He could feel the fear in his stomach as he looked around the graveyard and tried to keep control of his panic as memories filtered into his head from a similar night so long ago. His son’s hand in his grounded him to the here and now. Ry's hand in his reminding him of the price he could pay if he couldn't get his son to safety. He'd not be prepared for the memories pushing at his mind. He pushed them to the side roughly and focused on what was before him.

“Someone is coming,” Ry pointed out.

A short man was walking between the graves with something in his arms. Suddenly Ry clutched at his head and fell to his knees. Harry gritted his teeth and held onto his son. He cursed as he tried to pull the boy up but he was just too heavy.

“ _Kill the spare_.”

Harry ducked the green spell and tried to pull his son along. He only got as far as the closest grave. He pushed Ry against the grave and placed the cup in his hands. Memories and reality mixing together around him in his mind as he looked down at his son to ground himself in this time. He couldn't afford to slip now.

“ _Praesidio vi repellere mela_ ,” Harry muttered the spell, pointing his cherry wand at his son, cutting the link between the Dark Lord and Ry.

“Better?” Harry asked Ry as the boy looked up at him and nodded, his eyes still clouded in pain.

“That won’t last,” Harry muttered, distractedly. “I want you to stay here with the Cup.”

“But-“

“No!” Harry cut him off with a glare. “You will stay here. Do not let go of the Cup. Promise me on your magic, Harry!”

“Yes, Dad.” Ry muttered and the magic settled between them.

Harry looked over to the grave to see Pettigrew lowering the bundle in his arms to the ground before a large cauldron. Harry quickly untied the Invisibility cloak from around his neck and pushed it towards his son, his hands shaking slightly.

“Okay, Ry.” Harry explained quickly. “That is the reborn body of the Dark Lord and Pettigrew. The Cup still needs time to recharge before it can send you home. Severus is going to look after you when you get there. Do not go with anyone else, understand?"

“No,” Ry gasped, holding the cup close to him.

Harry grabbed his shoulder.

“Please, just trust me. Okay?” Harry pleaded.

Ry nodded, his eyes large as they looked up at his father. Harry felt his heart clench in his chest.

“ _Come out, little Potter_.” A high-pitched voice called out across the graveyard. “ _You can’t hide forever. What would your parents say?”_

Chilling laughter floated on the air and Harry shivered. He could see that Wormtail had already started the ritual and it was only a matter of time before Voldemort would rise again. He had to act soon.

“Dad?” Ry whispered in a small voice.

“It’s going to be okay, Ry.” Harry said softly. “Severus will look after you.”

His son looked up at him with large green eyes, pleading with Harry to stay with him. Harry grabbed the boy’s shoulder one more time before stepping out from behind the grave and moving towards the ritual before him. He could feel the darkness on the air and he had to force himself forward. The bitter taste of the magic in the back of his throat.

“ _James Potter_!” The high-pitched voice of Voldemort hissed. “ _I killed you_!”

Harry stood up straighter and looked down at the grotesque version of the child that was the new born body of Voldemort. Wormtail looked up at him and shrunk back slightly.

“That’s not James, my Lord.” The small man whispered. “His name is Blake Sun, he's Harry Potter’s adoptive father.”

The cold laugh that burst forth from the Dark Lord chilled Harry to the bone.

“ _I get to kill the boy’s parents twice_!” The child laughed.

“No!” Ry screamed from behind the gravestone but his promise with Harry held him back, keeping him out of harm’s way.

Harry smiled darkly.

“You don’t have the power,” Harry mocked coldly.

“But I do!”

Harry ducked the spell fired at him from a figure dressed in black with a white mask. The blue spell passed over his head and with a cry Harry sent another curse back at the other man. He stepped to the side easily as Harry ducked behind another gravestone.

“Finish the ritual, Pettigrew.” The death eater said coldly. “I’ll keep him busy.”

Harry held his wand to the ground below him and channelled his power down. Plants sprung up around the man's feet making him shout out as the vines tangled around his legs. The vines bit into his skin with sharp thorns as Harry poured his magic down. The Death Eater flicked his wand as he started to cut into the vines. Harry could hear Wormtail's voice on the air as he started the ritual. His chance of corrupting the magic was slipping away and he cursed.

The Death Eater finally cut through the last vine and flicked his wand towards Harry. The Gravestone next to Harry exploded into dust. He swore and started moving. He couldn't do anything until he got rid of the Death Eater.

“ _Stupefy_!” Harry yelled out as a distraction.

The red spell headed straight for the man who ducked down to avoid it. Harry pulled on the magic in the earth and it split open trying to take the Death Eater down as Harry poured power into the earth. The man yelped and skipped to the side as he cast a spell in Harry's direction.

Harry swore as the spell sliced into his side cutting through his shirt and into his skin. He quickly ducked behind another grave as dark magic poured out around them. He wasn't dealing with a simple follower, he was dealing with someone with duelling experience.

“You think you can beat me!” The man cried out, blonde hair falling loose around the mask.

“Yes,” Harry called back as he circled around him.

The man laughed as he watched Harry carefully. Harry could feel the dark magic swirling around and slowly grabbed a hold of it. He felt it come into his hands as he held the elder wand lightly. The dark wand drinking in the magic hungrily and Harry let it as he collected the magic. The move made the Death Eater pause as dark mists started to swirl around Harry. He was sure that the other man had never seen anything like it as Harry gave him a dark smile.

“Do you think you can beat me?” Harry spat back the other man’s words, the dark magic nipping at his heels.

“Yes!” The man gasped and pushed his wand forward at the same time Harry released the dark magic he'd gathered.

The black mist went screaming towards the other man absorbing the man’s spell and smashed into the other man’s chest. The Death Eater was thrown from his feet as Harry crashed onto one knee as the magic left him. He heaved a sigh of relief when he felt the Portkey activated as it sent his son back to safety to the school. At least one thing was going his way this night.

Slow clapping made Harry look up to see a tall man with brown hair and red eyes looking down at him. Harry pulled himself to his feet and tried to stand evenly. His right leg throbbed and his side bled but he was not going to show weakness. He looked Voldemort over as the other man eyed him.

“Nice show,” Voldemort hissed.

The other man looked very different to the way Harry remembered. More human and yet his eyes showed no humanity as they stared at Harry coldly. It looked like the change in the Dark Ritual, since they couldn’t use Ry’s blood, had made all the difference. Harry gathered up the last of the dark magic around him, ready to use it if he needed to. He could feel it settle on his skin as he tapped into the magic held in his dark wand.

“Dark Lord Voldemort,” Harry greeted calmly.

“You are Blake Sun?” The man questioned.

“Yes,” Harry replied shortly.

“You wield that dark magic as well as any Dark Lord,” Voldemort laughed coldly. “You could be a asset to my cause.”

Harry laughed back.

“You think I would join you in your campaign against muggles and muggleborns?” Harry hissed.

“Yes,” Voldemort hissed. “Dark power, pulls dark power.”

Harry laughed in the man’s face and raised his wand. Dark magic rushed out of him toward the Dark Lord. Voldemort flicked his wand at the spell but Harry hadn’t aiming for the man but the tree behind him.

CRACK!

The Dark Lord twisted around just as the tree behind him exploded, sending shards of wood flying. Harry used the distraction to duck and run. He had to make it to the edge of the wards before he could disapparate. A cry sounded from behind him and Harry dived behind a gravestone and covered his head as stone went flying around him. The stone dust coating him and making him swear as he pulled more dark power to his hands. He quickly let the magic run over him in a shield.

“You can’t run from me!” Voldemort screamed.

Harry pushed his magic into the ground and with a wench he pulled. The earth cracked and split as it raced back towards the Dark Lord. The man yelled out but it was too late. He fell and Harry ran as fast as his leg would allow him. He was mere meters away from the edge of the wards when he felt the magic build behind him. He knew what was coming.

With a shout, Harry brought up the strongest shield charm he could master on the fly and the Dark Lord’s magic slammed in to it. The clashing of magic pushing Harry back across the ground but he managed to hold his feet as the other man poured magic into his spell. Harry gritted his teeth and held on to his dark wand with two hands as he slowly and painfully kept stepping back. His bad leg threatening to collapse under him with every step. He was too old to be tangling with Dark Lords head on.

 _‘Just a couple of steps to go,’_ Harry thought as he held his wand.

“You can’t hold that spell forever,” Voldemort hissed, his magic bitting into his barrier charm.

“You're right,” Harry gasped. “But I don’t have to.”

Harry grinned and took another step back.

“I only have to get to the edge of your wards.”

“NO!”

Voldemort’s scream followed Harry as he disaparated. His magic swirling around him as he disappeared.

xXx

Harry stumbled to his knees as he landed with the world spinning around him making him feel sick. The last of the dark magic he'd gathered rolling off him harmlessly and into the earth under his hands as he panted. The world still spun and he just couldn’t hold his stomach. He threw up everything he'd eaten and kept throwing up until it was only bile.

“Blake!”

The yell made his head ache as he moved away from the sick on the ground. He sat back on his heels as he rested his hand on his thighs with his head bowed. He opened his eyes to find Headmaster Dumbledore and Severus Snape looking down at him.

“Hey,” Harry said weakly. “Mind giving me a hand up?”

Severus jumped forward on his bad side and got under his arm. Harry hissed at the pain in his side but didn’t say anything.

“What happened, my boy?” Albus asked. “Ry came back saying that Voldemort had risen?”

“Yes,” Harry replied shortly, leaning heavily into Severus.

His head pounded and he wasn’t sure if he was going to be sick again. He turned his head away from Severus just in case. He could feel how tense Severus was under his arm but he was having enough trouble trying to stay on his feet.

“Is Ry okay?” Harry asked.

“Yes, he's fine.” Albus reassured him. “Both Cedric Diggory and Mr Potter made it back safely. We had a little trouble with Alastor Moody but it was all worked out.”

Harry nodded and stumbled into Severus, who grunted until Harry felt another person get under his other arm. He let the men take his weight and just focused on moving one foot in front of the other as the two men softly spoke between each other.

“What could have-"

“-dark magic-"

“-yes, it’s all over him-"

“How could-"

“-Dark Lord-"

Harry jolted at those words, more awake.

“Dark Lord?” Harry questioned.

“Voldemort,” Albus cleared up. “You still have dark magic clinging to you.”

“Oh, yeah.” Harry said softly. “He used a Dark Ritual, there was a Death Eater there. Lucius Malfoy, I think, he was there to back up Pettigrew. I tapped into the Dark Ritual and pulled some of the dark magic off to use against Malfoy.”

He felt Albus nod. “That’s very advanced, not to mention very dangerous.”

“The things you do when your life is in danger,” Harry laughed humourlessly. “Don’t think Malfoy will be walking too great for a while.”

Harry looked up when they reached the castle stairs. Everything was so quiet around them and he frowned.

“Why is it so quiet?” Harry asked.

“After Ry came back, I sent all the students to their common rooms and the other schools back to their rooms.” Albus explained.

“Oh,” Harry said dumbly. “Where are we going?”

“Hospital wing,” Severus said shortly.

“Why?”

“Because you are leaving a trail of blood in the hallway, Mr Sun.”

Harry looked down at his side. “Oh, yeah.”

Now that he thought about it, his side started to throb and he noticed the blood running down his leg. Harry fell silent again as they moved towards the hospital wing.

“Dad!”

Harry’s head shot up and the world spun around him. Suddenly Ry was before him and peering up at him in concern.

“Dad, are you okay?” Ry questioned quickly.

“Out of the way, Potter.” Severus snapped.

Ry danced to the side to let the two men move Harry to one of the beds.

“Are you okay, Ry?” Harry asked as the two men eased him down onto the side of the bed.

“Yeah, Dad.” Ry said softly, his eyes wide. “The Cup took me back, you were amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it before!”

Harry smiled for his son. “Thank you, Ry.”

“Maybe you should get back to your bed, Mr Potter.” Albus suggested gently.

“Okay, Professor Dumbledore.” Ry agreed, subdued. “I’ll see you in the morning Dad.”

Harry nodded as Ry moved off and Madam Pomfrey bustled over with a frown on her face.

“Mr Sun, don’t tell me that I’ll have to make you up a bed next to your son’s.” Madam Pomfrey stated.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Harry replied.

He pulled his jacket off and passed it to Severus, before working on his shirt. Madam Pomfrey stepped forward to give him a hand. Once his shirt was off, they could see the long cut from the bottom his ribs on the right side to the left hand side of his hip. Madam Pomfrey placed the tip of her wand at the top of the cut and slowly ran it down the cut, muttering the healing charms under her breath as she worked.

Harry caught Albus eyeing off the scars on his back and arms out of the corner of his eye but he ignored it. He couldn't deal with that conversation at the moment.

“Are you in pain?” Pomfrey asked as she worked.

“I’m fine,” Harry replied automatically and Severus snorted. “Could do with a glass of water though.”

“Albus?” Pomfrey asked, as she ran her wand over Harry checking for more injuries as her magic soaked into the cut.

“Of course, my dear.” Albus replied leaving the room to get the glass of water.

It was then that Harry noticed the black dog peering around the door of Ry’s room.  Harry nodded at the dog while Severus glared at it. Albus must have called the Animagus.

“Everything else seems to be in order,” Pomfrey said, lowering her wand. “Take it easy on the magic for a little while and just take it easy for the next few weeks and you should be fine.”

“Can you tell that to Ry?” Harry asked her with a smile.

Pomfrey glared at him and placed a bandage over the cut across his stomach before moving off into her office. Albus returned with the water as Black moved into the room.

“Poppy is going to give Mr Potter a potion to help him sleep,” Albus told him as he passed the water over.

“Thank you,” Harry replied.

“You will want this, Mr Sun.” Poppy commented as she held out a cane that she'd picked up from her office. She looked down her nose at the dog but said nothing. “If that is all, I will head to bed, Headmaster?”

“Yes, thank you my dear.” Albus said with a smile.

Pomfrey nodded and made her way out of the hospital wing.

“I thought she would never leave,” Black cried, once he was human.

“Impatient as always, Black.” Severus snarled

“Shove it, Snape!”

“You only wish, Black.”

Harry turned to Albus as the two bickered.

“Have they always been like this?” Harry asked.

Albus smiled down at him. “Much like Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy.”

Harry snorted loudly and the two men stopped bickering to look at him.

“Okay,” Harry said as he slid to the edge of the bed and got his cane on the floor.

“Where do you think you're going?” Severus asked silkily.

“A shower,” Harry replied, looking down at the blood on his hands and the stone dust on his arms and in his hair. “Either give me a hand or disappear somewhere else. So that when I land on my ass, I don't have witnesses."

Albus laughed and clapped Harry on the shoulder and made his way out.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Blake.” Albus called over his shoulder.

Severus moved to his side and both men looked at Black. Sirius looked at his feet for a second before he looked at Harry.

“Thank you,” Black whispered then transformed and tottered off to Ry’s room.

Harry looked up at Severus and the man grinned down at him.

“I guess you’re going to be my crutch,” Harry grinned.

Severus just sighed and helped him to the bathroom.

“What have I got myself into,” Severus muttered.

Harry just snorted.

End of Part One.

Author’s note: Okay, this is when everything changes. This part of the story was more about setting up events. Voldemort has returned, which had to happen because you can’t fight against a disembodied spirit of a Dark Lord. Some events were always going to happen and will continue to happen but the impact of Blake Sun being alive in this time will start to change events completely.


End file.
